A record 2,250 sea lions, mostly pups, have washed up starving and stranded on Southern California beaches so far this year, a worsening phenomenon blamed on warming seas in the region that have disrupted the marine mammals’ food supply. Meanwhile, the surge in Southern California strandings has inundated marine mammal rescue centers from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Rescue teams work to save, rehabilitate and ultimately return the animals to the wild.
