The Marine Mammal Center Receives New Rescue Containers Built by San Quentin Inmates
Two facilities help one another to achieve mutual goal - rehabilitation. The Marine Mammal Center is to receive the first of three metal carriers to transport large sea lions and elephant seals in need of help. The carriers were designed and built by inmate-students at San Quentin’s machine shop. The new carrier will be used for the first time to transport White Russian, a California sea lion patient, down to Rodeo Beach from the hospital in Sausalito, on June 6th.
Sausalito, CA (PRWEB) June 3, 2005 -- The Marine Mammal Center is to receive
the first of three metal carriers that will be used to transport large sea lions
and elephant seals in need of help. The carriers, made out of aluminum sheet
metal and weighing 146 pounds each, were designed and built by inmate-students
at San Quentin’s machine shop. The carrier project marks a beneficial
relationship between The Center and San Quentin’s education department. Designed
for rescuing and rehabilitating marine mammals, The Marine Mammal Center will
use the carriers next week as part of the release of a rehabilitated sea lion
patient at Rodeo Beach in Sausalito. For San Quentin, the carrier project has
helped students in the prison’s sheet and machine metal classes learn valuable
trade skills that they can use once they’re released back into society.
“We asked San Quentin if they could help us out in making these
carriers, and they said yes if in turn we could help them out with a much-needed
welding machine,” said Shelbi Stoudt, Stranding Manager at The Marine Mammal
Center. “So, we acquired one for the prison machine shop, and the students
there, under the direction of instructor Richard Saenz, used it to build the
carriers to our specifications. They also improved the original design of the
carriers, using computer software donated to them by Autodesk. “
Each
carrier would normally cost The Marine Mammal Center $3000 to have built, but by
enlisting San Quentin’s machine shop class, The Center will save $1000 on each
one. Volunteers and staff are preparing for the busy California sea lion rescue
season between the months of June and September. In 2004, The Center rescued
more than 450 sea lions alone. Many of those patients weighed upwards of 300
pounds. The new San Quentin-produced carriers will replace old ones that have
fallen apart over the years and are no longer sturdy to transport patients for
rescues, and for releases of healthy patients back to the ocean.
“We’re
thrilled to build the carriers for The Marine Mammal Center because we know that
without the transports, volunteers and staff could not rescue larger, critically
ill animals, said Richard Saenz, Machine Shop Instructor at San Quentin’s
Education Department. “My students feel good building something worthwhile to be
used outside of the prison; it gives them a sense of purpose.”
The new
carrier will be used for the first time to transport White Russian, a California
sea lion patient, down to Rodeo Beach from the hospital in Sausalito, on June 7.
The adult, female pinniped was rescued from a beach in San Luis Obispo in April
suffering from a potentially lethal algal bloom poisoning known as domoic acid
toxicity. She’ll be outfitted with a satellite transmitter so researchers from
Moss Landing Marine Labs can monitor her travel patterns.
Celebrating its
30th year in 2005, The Marine Mammal Center is a nonprofit hospital dedicated to
the rescue and rehabilitation of ill and injured marine mammals, and to research
about their health and diseases. Volunteers and staff have treated more than
10,000 California sea lions, elephant seals, porpoises, and other marine life,
along 600 miles of coastline from Mendocino County to San Luis Obispo County. In
fact, The Center treats more marine mammals than any other institution of its
kind in the world, uniquely combining its rehabilitation program with scientific
discovery and education programs to advance the understanding of marine mammal
health, ocean health and conservation.
On the Web: www.marinemammalcenter.org ;
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb247464.htm