online JOURNAL

27 February 09
Oh, lest I forget, I have an update about myself - I have a new job! Well, a new volunteer job as it seems you can't get paid for doing the interesting stuff :)

I have started working at the California Academy of Sciences. I'm not diving there yet - that is still on hold because the man who trains the volunteer divers has just been too busy to get that program off the ground - but I am helping to prepare skulls for their collection. I am working primarily with marine mammals, an interestingly, many of the specimens come from the Marine Mammal Center.

It is smelly work. Not because of the specimens themselves, as they are kept frozen until we begin work on them, but because we are working in a room which also holds specimens which are being macerated. Maceration is a method of leaving a bone in a container of water long enough that bacteria eat away every molecule of flesh and fat. In other words, they're rotting.

But it is also very interesting work. I'm hoping that at some point I will be able to identify individual marine mammal species by just looking at their skulls!

27 February 09
After last week's post about "Tillie" the sea lion, I wanted to give an update on his condition. Last Tuesday Tillie was two days post-surgery. He was lethargic, extremely weak, and not eating on his own (because of the fishing net wrapped around his head and mouth it had probably been weeks since he had eaten, or even swallowed anything). When we restrained him for tube feeding, he laid flat on the ground without resisting, and his eyes rolled back in his head. We didn't think he would survive the tubing, let alone the day.

I went to work this past Tuesday the 24th half-expecting to see Tillie's pen empty. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to see him alert and active! As soon as I threw "breakfast" in his pool he jumped in and swam around, quickly gobbling down all of his fish. His improvement is remarkable, and barring any persistent infection, I think he will be ready for release in a few weeks.

Unfortunately, Tillie will always carry with him the scars and disfiguration caused by the fishing net.

17 February 09
If you've ever paid attention to any of the information relating to sustainable seafood then you've probably heard the word "bycatch." It refers to the unwanted or unintentional species caught, and often killed, in the course of collecting your target species. One example would be if you're fishing for trout and you catch a bass, then the bass would be bycatch. It's not ideal, but it doesn't sound that bad, right? Wait. Let me give you some more information before you answer that question.

Worldwide, a full 25% of animals caught in fishing gear are discarded annually. Thats thirty million metric tons or over 33,000,000 US tons (sixty-six billion pounds) of waste. Some of these animals are thrown back while still alive and are able to survive, but the majority do not. Bycatch includes everything from undesirable fish to sharks, turtles, birds, whales and dolphins. Yes, despite the "dolphin-safe tuna" industry over 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are caught in fishing gear every year.

Seals and sea lions are not immune from this, and entangled animals are something we deal with on a regular basis at The Marine Mammal Center. Currently we have on-site a male California sea lion dubbed "Tillie." Tillie was rescued from Muir Beach in Marin County on Sunday, brought back to TMMC, and immediately went into surgery to remove the monofilament fishing net wrapped around his head and mouth. The net had been there long enough to dig through tissue and into his bone. It is unknown how long he went without eating due to either pain, or the fact that it was physically impossible for him to eat with the netting in his mouth.

tillie. (aka: this is why i don't eat seafood.)

Tillie's prognosis is guarded as the netting may have caused a bone infection (osteomyelitis), and we don't yet know if that infection can be stopped in time. I certainly hope so.

Seeing animals like this is what caused me to stop eating all fish and seafood. I have no desire to support an industry that causes so much unnecessary death and suffering. If you would like to learn more or do something to lessen your impact, here are some links:

Bycatch information:
Info on bycatch from The Monterey Bay Aquarium
Info on bycatch from The World Wildlife Fund
The Wikipedia page on bycatch

Sustainable seafood (avoid bycatch and still eat fish):
About Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program
Pocket guides to help make the best fish, seafood, and sushi choices

Make a difference:
Monterey Bay Aquarium "Consumers Make a Difference!"
World Wildlife Fund "Everyone can help stop bycatch"

12 February 09
Did you always know what you wanted to do for a living? Or, to reword that, is the job you are working at today the sort of thing you thought you'd do when you were growing up? If the answer to either of those questions is "no," do you think that's because your teachers and advisors never pushed you in the correct direction?

This is something I've been giving some thought to lately. I've loved animals as far back as I can remember, and ever since I was a child I wanted a job working with them. I never knew exactly what though, and at no time in my life was I encouraged to pursue my dreams. So as I got older and reality began settling more heavily on my shoulders, my dreams faded away.

I have a memory from when I was in 6th or 7th grade. Most of our classes were taught by one teacher, but we had separate teachers for P.E., Spanish, and Science. One day I was in the Science classroom chatting with the teacher, and I remember having to tell him what an ungulate was. (This was also during the time period where I read all the first aid books in the classroom, and probably where my interest in Medicine came about.) You'd think that in an instance like that, any science teacher worth his weight in bunsen burners would have attempted to cultivate the student's interest in biology, but this teacher did nothing. Maybe if he had taken some time to tell me about all the different jobs my biology interest could have led me to, well, maybe I would have spent the last 20 years doing something I really loved. If I had known that "going to college" could also mean "spending time learning about something I loved" then maybe I would have gone. I could have been a vet. I could have been many things. But instead I wasted many years of my life.

Sure, it wasn't entirely his fault. But at no time during my childhood did I ever have anything close to a mentor, and that's what I really needed.

I'm very lucky in that things turned out fine for me. And there is no way I'd give up my life today for the uncertainty of a different adolescence. But still I wonder at how things might have been different if someone paid attention. And I wonder if the reason no one paid attention is because I was a girl, and girls are supposed to grow up and have babies, not be scientists.

11 February 09
After a month and a half hiatus I started back at the Marine Mammal Center yesterday. Mid-December through February is our slow season, and we only had seven animals on-site, so my supervisor and I were the only ones to come in. It felt good to be back there.

We had a surprise that morning when we went into Del Norte's pen to feed her - there was a (dead) fetus on the floor of her pen. (Link to photo; I'm not posting it here because some people may not want to see it.) Del Norte is an adult female California sea lion who was admitted because of suspected acute domoic acid toxicity. On February 6th she was anesthetized and examined. An ultrasound confirmed she was pregnant, so the vets gave her an injection of prostaglandin to induce abortion. Sometime during the morning of the 10th she aborted her fetus.

In a pregnant animal, domoic acid tends to accumulate in the fetus. After inducing abortion the mother immediately begins to feel better as her body has just eliminated a huge toxin load. And it is the best course of treatment for the baby as well; since the fetus has accumulated a large amount of domoic acid it has incurred brain damage as a result. Even if the fetus were able to make it to term, it would unable to survive on its own.

Rather than seeing this as an unpleasant event I found it extremely interesting. I had never had the chance to see a sea lion fetus before. Plus, I was able to see Del Norte hungry and frolicking in her pool. I'm guessing that, barring other problems, she'll be released in the near future. And that's what makes a good day at work - watching your patients leave and never come back :)

Del Norte in her pool

29 January 09
25 Random Thoughts

This is a cool meme. I'd like to read your random thoughts, too, so please post them!

1) I like most animals more than most people. If you're reading this, then you're probably in the minority of people I do like.

2) I love organization to the point of straightening up store displays while I'm waiting in line. But I'm not quite bad enough to be considered OCD.

3) I'm very shy, to the point of feeling uncomfortable at gatherings where I don't know many people. It is very difficult for me to go up to strangers and start talking to them, but if you start talking to me first, I'm okay with that.

4) Back when I was going clubbing all the time I wasn't so shy, but I blame that on alcohol.

5) I really love my husband, and consider myself so extremely lucky to have met him. He makes life worth living.

6) I cannot understand why "vegetarians" eat fish.

7) I cannot understand how anyone eat things like organs, testicles, tongue, etc. Ew!

8) Ditto for mushrooms.

9) I like vegetables much more than fruit, and baked goods more than anything.

10) If I could change one thing about humanity, it would be to make people stop eating fish and seafood.

11) As far back as I can remember, I've always been very happy that one of my parents (my mom) came from another country.

12) It's probably somehow related to #10, but I've never identified with being "An American." I do, however, identify with being Californian, and particularly San Franciscan.

13) I've never lived further than 40 miles from where I was born.

14) I was born in what I consider to be the best city in the world (San Francisco) so I was never compelled to leave the Bay Area.

15) I really love my cat.

16) Over the years I've had many different pets: cat, dog, chicken, pig, parrots, lizards, snakes, frogs, rat, hamsters, canaries, etc. The only thing stopping me from having a menagerie nowadays is that I want to travel more, and that's very difficult to do when you have many pets.

17) I learned to ride a motorcycle by riding motocross. I still love dirt bike riding much, much more than street riding, but sadly have not ridden in the dirt for ages.

18) I do not like riding bicycles.

19) I am fascinated by anatomy, especially skeletal anatomy.

20) Because of #19, I collect bones. If you are creeped out by bones, you don't want to go into my office.

21) I have no problem with dead things, doing necropsies, dissections, etc., but the sight of an icky bug will make me scream like a little girl.

22) Girls (women, whatever) who are too "girlie" make no sense to me. I probably think this way because I was, and still am, a tomboy.

23) When I was a kid I wished I had been born a boy. I always had stereotypical male hobbies, and it seemed like the life of a boy was easier than that of a girl.

24) I skipped grade three and eventually dropped out of high school because I was so bored with it all. I was never challenged in school until college (and I didn't seriously begin that until I was in my 30s).

25) I've often wondered if my academic life would have been different had I been a boy. Would teachers have encouraged me to pursue a career in science, rather than ignoring my interests there?

15 January 09
Yup, I'll admit it, I'm a size queen. I like 'em big - the bigger the better! And my husband knows this, so he rented me a huge one as a Christmas present, and it was incredible.

What? Oh, I'm talking about camera lenses!

One of Frederick's gifts to me was a week-long rental of a Canon 600mm f/4 lens, and the subsequent running around to shoot with it. This lens is fabulous - it gets close, focuses quickly and accurately, and the wide aperature gives you a nicely blurred background which accentuates your subject. The downsides: its heavy (~12 lbs.) weight makes it difficult to hike with and almost impossible to handhold, while the $7000 price tag is cause for sticker shock (hence our rental, as opposed to purchase).

The 600mm is, however, an ideal lens for wildlife photography, so that's what we did with it. And to maximize our ability to actually use the lens, we took it several places where we would have guaranteed animal encounters. (The last thing we wanted was to spend five hours hiking with this thing and having nothing to show for our efforts.)

As soon as we picked up the lens we headed for the zoo. It's funny, it's like the animals were posing for us:

Next was Año Nuevo. This is a major elephant seal rookery, and at this time of the year the beaches are full - males are fighting for territory and the females are having their pups. At some points you can walk right up to the seals (but you don't, as you don't really want 3000 lbs. of angry carnivore charging you), but unfortunately it was foggy and the photo quality suffered because of that:

One afternoon we headed to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, north of Half Moon Bay:

Finally, we headed south to the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery near Cambria and San Simeon. Here, hundreds of seals are hauled out a stone's throw from the parking lot, and we spent a couple of hours watching them from the adjacent boardwalk:

As if that wasn't enough, we had a gorgeous drive heading back on Highway 1. We saw many grey whales off the coast and met a friendly squirrel. At one point during the drive I looked into a tree and saw some large birds. VERY large birds. They were California condors!

In summary, the 600mm is A+++, would rent again!

2 January 09
Happy New Year! Looking back on 2008 it was just an average year for me; some good things happened, some bad things happened, but it wasn't extraordinary in either direction. While I feel I accomplished some little things it just wasn't a year for major achievements.

I don't like to make New Year's resolutions, per se. If there is something I want to accomplish I set that as a goal, regardless of what time of the year it is, and I don't want to set some goal just because it is the beginning of the year. That being said, I have one goal in particular that is waiting until the end of this holiday season to put into effect, the quintessential "take better care of myself" credo: eat better and exercise regularly.

I have another goal, another hope for the new year as well, and that is To Make A Difference. Prior to 2008 I'd often hear people talk about how they wanted to "change the world." And I always thought that wasn't for me as I just wanted to meander my own path and enjoy myself. Then something happened and I realized I couldn't just sit here watching everything I love be destroyed and not do anything about it, so I spent some time thinking about what I could do in that regard. Now I have some solid ideas which I am already working on, and I am partnering with others to make them happen.

Here's to a 2009 full of hope and accomplishments.