Yesterday I was telling you about all of the wildlife that I’ve seen during my vacation in Aruba. While there have many interesting fish, birds, and reptiles near the beach, I haven’t seen any marine mammals. Luckily, I have a few more days to watch for dolphins and whales since United canceled my flight and might have left me “stuck” here until Wednesday, but I doubt I’ll see any because they’re not very common here. Marine mammals are far more common in places like California’s Bay Area. That is why The Marine Mammal Center is located in Sausalito, CA. They are a non-profit “veterinary research hospital and educational center dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of ill and injured marine mammals – primarily elephant seals, harbor seals, and California sea lions.” They’ve been at in for nearly 40 years and have rescued or treated close to 20,000 animals.

Seal of Approval

It’s hard not to love marine mammals–they’re generally cute and intelligent. I always feel weird about wildlife rescue organizations because in some ways they’re fighting natural selection and disrupting the forces that gave us such interesting, well-adapted species. However, humans often have a significant negative impact on all kinds of wildlife, and we need to do more to lessen that impact. The Marine Mammal Center says that about 10% of the animals they work with have been impacted by human interaction, and I actually thought that would be way higher. What I really like about The Marine Mammal Center is that it’s not just about the individual animals that they work with, it’s also about education, research, and understanding how to lessen our impact on these species going forward. All you have to do to see the effect that The Marine Mammal Center has is look at their patients. The organization is doing amazing work, and if you want to be part of it, check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Guest Experience Coordinator.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• MarineMammalCenter.org
• Jobs at The Marine Mammal Center
• About The Marine Mammal Center
• The Marine Mammal Center’s Staff
• The Marine Mammal Center News

What’s your favorite marine mammal?

We've identified The Marine Mammal Center as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• animals
• California
• education
• non-profit
• research
• science
• veterinary
• zoology

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