Butler County woman helped heal sea lions, seals
She heals sick sea lions by the seashore. It’s not a new tongue twister, but what Brooke Schaefers, 23, a 2017 graduate of Slippery Rock High School, did for her summer internship.
In June, Schaefers traveled to Crescent City, Calif., for a three-month internship at Northcoast Marine Mammal Center where she rescued, rehabilitated and released sea lions and seals that had become either stranded, sick or injured.
Schaefers, the daughter of Suzanne and Mark Schaefers of Butler, was fulfilling an internship component as she pursues a master’s degree in marine mammal science at the University of Miami.
“The differences between sea lions and seals is a sea lion has external ears, seals just have tiny little holes,” she said. “Sea lions can walk on their limbs, while seals just bounce along the ground because they can’t stand up on their four flippers.”
“Sea lions tend to be bigger. It really depends. We had one that weighed 250 pounds, they can get up to 500 pounds,” she added.
The California center took care of pups that were separated from their mothers, and sick or stranded animals.
“We would get a call about a stranded or sick animal, assess it and determine whether to bring it in,” she said.
Once at the center, the sea lions or seals would have blood taken and receive medical care and feed.
“We had a harbor seal that had been mauled by a dog,” Schaefers said. “It had all these infections. We had to give it foot soak baths with Epsom salts on its back flippers before we could release it into the Pacific Ocean.”
Working with sick animals can definitely be a little dangerous, she said. “But everybody at my facility is very aware that human safety is top priority. We use boards called herd boards.”
Schaefers said during her time at the center, she aided in the treatment of 20 animals. All got well enough to go back into the ocean, except for two that had to be euthanized.
“I got to work with harbor seals, elephant seals, California sea lions, a Guadalupe fur seal and a stellar sea lion. The Guadalupe fur seal is now near extinction,” she said.
Schaefers said she knew she wanted to work with marine animals from a very early age.
“My grandparents lived in Sarasota. When I was eight, we went to the Moat Aquarium. I had the opportunity to feed a manatee a head of lettuce,” she said. “I told my parents this is what I want to do. I’ve never changed that.”
Despite the absence of oceans in Western Pennsylvania, she said her parents were always very supportive.
After graduating from Youngstown State University with a degree in biology, she was accepted at the University of Miami to attend graduate school.
Right now, she is continuing her efforts at rescuing marine life by working at Dolphin Plus Bayside in Key Largo, Fla., an organization that runs the only dolphin stranding network in the Florida Keys. She aids in the medical and physical treatment of dolphins.
She’s set to graduate in December and is trying to decide whether to look for a job or perhaps go to veterinary school for aquatic medicine.
At the time of the interview, however, she was more concerned with the approach of Hurricane Ian, which was predicted to strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm before it reached Florida Wednesday.
“I’ve been working at this for the last 15 years. It’s been amazing. I’m glad to be able to give back to these animals because they are important to the environment,” she said.
