Two rescued sea lion pups released at Cabrillo Beach

Two sea lion pups were released back into the ocean at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro on Tuesday.

The California sea lions, Joy and Holly, were both rescued and rehabilitated by the Marine Mammal Care Center (MMCC).

Joy was rescued in May 2023 after she was found stranded in the front yard of a house in Long Beach. She only weighed around 24 pounds when she was found, said John Warner, CEO of Marine Mammal Care Center. Warner continued to say Joy took awhile to develop the hunting skills needed to survive in the wild, but after practicing with multiple "fishing tests" they believe she is ready to go back into the ocean and hunt on her own.

The second sea lion pup, Holly, was around 1-year-old when she was rescued last summer at Dockweiler Beach during the domoic acid outbreak that impacted thousands of sea lions along the California coastline. She was treated for parasitic inflections, toxoplasmosis and sarcocystosis, according to MMCC.

Both of the sea lion pups were released on MMCC's Giving Tuesday triple match challenge, where a private donor is tripling every $1 donated.