Toxic algae bloom taking a toll on LA County lifeguards

Watching animals become sick and die over and over again because of the toxic algae bloom has taken a toll on rescue workers and Los Angeles County lifeguards. 

"It's been more than I've seen in my career," LA County Fire Section Chief Kenichi Haskett said. 

A video taken two weeks ago in Venice showed lifeguards tending to a seizing dolphin. They tried to comfort it by dousing it with water before it died a few minutes later. It's a scene playing out along Southern California beaches as thousands of sea lions, pelicans and other marine life are being poisoned by a massive toxic algae bloom that attacks their brains. 

Lifeguards are typically the first to spot them and the ones to stay with the animals until they are rescued or die. 

"It takes a toll, an emotional toll if you have to see it day in and day out, just seeing death on a daily basis," Haskett said. 

The bloom produces domoic acid that attacks an animal's brain, causing seizures, lethargy and aggressiveness. Surfers in Ventura and Orange County said they have been sea lions amid the algae bloom. 

Hundreds of other animals have beached themselves and died on the sand. 

Haskett said the department has extensive mental health resources available for members facing the intensity of this year's bloom. 

"Clinicians kind of describe or explain it as our cups become literally full," Haskett said. "That emotion we have to be able to empty it or let some of it out."

John Warner from the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro said marine life is in desperate need of help. 

"We have an ocean ecosystem that's crying out for help," Warner said. 

Warner's teams are the ones who meet up with lifeguards in the frantic rush to try and save the dying mammals. 

"We interact with the lifeguards, some are crying, some are just really emotional, emotionally distraught as are our volunteers, as is our staff I mean," Warner said. "When you work in wildlife rehabilitation, you learn some techniques to compartmentalize the emotions that you feel, but lifeguards, beaches, and harbor staff, the public, they don't have those, or you wouldn't think that they should."  

He said it's a painful experience for everyone and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight. Experts aren't certain why the bloom seems to be getting bigger, stronger, longer and returning every year rather than every four to seven years.