Maintaining the wildness of the animals we treat is an integral
and essential part of The Marine Mammal Center's mission. In
order to survive in the wild, animals undergoing rehabilitation
must not imprint on their human caretakers or associate us with
food and nurturing. The animals The Center cares for are wild
animals not accustomed to human interaction, so all of our husbandry
procedures seek to limit human interaction and reduce stress,
ensuring that the animals remain as wild as possible.
Techniques include limiting visual and physical contact with
our patients and trying to keep noise levels low. Staff and
volunteers limit talking around the animals. Visitors are
asked to remain quiet while in the hospital zone. Screening
on pens is used to reduce the visual impact of people around
the animals. Herding boards are used to maneuver animals safely
and effectively. Treatment regimes carefully consider limiting
human contact and stress by grouping medications with regular
feeds as much as possible, and using the fewest number of
people to safely handle the animals. Certain areas of The
Center that house our most critical patients or those animals
most susceptible to imprinting, are off-limits to the public,
and to non-animal care staff.
The measures we undertake to ensure the wildness of the animals
also help to reduce the stress they are under while at our
hospital. Stress is a major factor impacting marine mammal
health. When an animal is stressed for an extended period
of time, it can cause the animal's immune system to stop working
properly, making the animal more susceptible to disease.
Animals such as Pacific harbor seal pups are particularly
vulnerable to stress. These animals suffer from a disease
associated with a herpes virus that may be exacerbated by
stress. The Geoffrey C. Hughes Harbor Seal Hospital was specifically
designed to reduce stress in harbor seals. By reducing the
necessity of handling the animals, ensuring proper pool filtration,
incorporating sunken pools, building more pools to ensure
fewer animals per pen, and providing adequate nutrition, we
can reduce the stress these animals are under while in our
hospital and increase the chances of their survival. Since
the hospital's opening in 1999, the harbor seal survival rate
has dramatically increased from 15% in 1998 to 56% in 1999,
and 73% in 2000.
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Reducing
Stress 