Call it a match made in heaven if you’d like.
A program in Southern California is bringing together sea lions who’ve been hurt in the wild with veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“When you take veterans and you expose them to sea lions, as the veterans get exposed to them, they see that they’re sick and how badly they are effected by what’s happened to them,” said Colby Hollabaugh, a former Marine who heads up the Sea Lions for Service Members at The Marine Mammal Center in Orange County, California.
Hollabaugh, who has been diagnosed with PTSD, initially got involved with the program as a volunteer a few years ago.
“One of my main draws for me from the program is it allows me to serve my fellow service members again,” he said.
The program walks transitioning veterans through the path the animal goes through as it recovers and is released back into the wild, explained Hollabaugh.
“They understand the animal’s health problems and what they are battling,” he said.
Most of the sea lions who come to the center for treatment suffer from malnutrition or dehydration, Hollabaugh said.
“Our goal here is to get them to gain their weight and back in the wild,” he said.
Just like the recovery process that humans undergo after being injured, the recovery process for sea lions can be difficult, continued Hollabaugh.
“It’s about explaining that those hard times don’t define their end times,” he said. “The rehabilitation process our animals go through are the exact process that a veteran goes through.”
When sea lions are rescued and brought to the center, they go first to triage for a medical diagnosis. Then, a unique treatment and rehab plan is drawn up based on the animal's needs.
“The first time I looked at an animal going through the full rehabilitation process and I saw his struggles and saw what he looked like and how he got there, I started drawing the correlations to my own rehabilitation,” Hollabaugh said.
The first sea lion Hollabaugh rescued was called Floki.
“When I opened the kennel door and watched him go back into the ocean, it was probably one of the best moments of my life,” he said.
The center was founded in 1971 and to date has rescued over 8,000 animals. In addition to sea lions, the center also rescues harbor and elephant seals.
Hollabaugh said as a veteran he found it difficult to admit his struggles
“It can be hard to talk if you have an issue,” he said. “My goal is for other people to have that discussion and move forward.”
The average cost to rehab a sea lion is $4,000. Most of the animals are patients at the center for about 100 days. To help fund the non-profit center’s efforts, click here.
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Reach Julia LeDoux: Julia@connectingvets.com https://Julia@connectingvets.com
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