Sea Lion Released In Santa Cruz After Being Rescued By Marine Mammal Center

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— A sea lion rescued last week by Sausalito's Marine Mammal Center was released back into the ocean in Santa Cruz Tuesday.

O'Neill, the 143-pound was found entangled in green-plastic fish netting surrounding her head.

"We know it had been on her for about a year. We'd seen her before. We get a lot of reports from the public. They've been great, especially in this area. They're really concerned about animals. They're concerned about the ocean," said Doug Ross with the Marine Mammal Center.

He said an increasing amount of sea lions are found entangled in man-made materials.

"This isn't a problem that's really going away," he said. "We've gotten more this year; we've already rescued 17 entangled sea lions this year. Last year we rescued 15 in the whole year. So it's slowly increasing. We're putting more resources into these rescues. If this is all I did with my life, I'd be pretty happy."