Kaouk the Sea Lion – The Story Gets Better and Better!
Update to the April/May information below: June 16, 2011.
From Peter Olesiuk, DFO – “I have not heard anything from Kaouk for over 2 days now, and I suspect his tag may have been moulted. In our Steller studies the tags tended to fall off in July-August. However, I checked the literature and the moult is 1-1/2 months earlier in juveniles, typically starting on 21 June. In my experience, tags glued to the pelage [fur] tend to fall off when the hair follicles weaken early in or just before the actual moult.”
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A picture is definitely worth a thousand words. See below for April 14th and May 8th images of Kaouk the Steller sea lion healthy, fat, WILD and with his peers!!
This photos and information has been provided by lighthouse keeper Jerry Etzkorn, via DFO and the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre (you can follow MMR on Facebook at this link).
Kaouk, is the male Steller sea lion that walked into the Port Alice trailer park on December 16th and was flown to the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. He inspired the students of Port Alice to write a children’s book and was released back into the wild on March 17th from southwestern Vancouver Island.
For background information on Kaouk, including how you can follow him via satellite tag, click this link for a previous blog posting.
Click the images to see them at a larger size.
Another happy Kaouk update from May 8th, 2011. Thank you Peter Olesiuk.
Photo taken on April 14, 2011 by Carmanah lighthouse keeper Jerry Etzkorn. He reports “He is certainty active and definitely accepted and tuned in to the other sea lions.”
The Marine Detective 
3 Responses to “Kaouk the Sea Lion – The Story Gets Better and Better!”
yay!!! A happy ending, why don’t the put things like this on the mainstream media news?
I hear you Anna! This “story” should be out there as a story of where humans do good for nature (considerable positive PR for VanAqua and DFO), student empowerment, and hope. It also has huge educational merit in bringing light to the fact that Steller ses lions are at risk, etc, etc, etc.
Beautiful to see! Thank you for the update Marine Detective!