Sam Gattlin discovered the marine mammal center soon after moving to San Pedro from the U.K. Now, he comes by after work once a week to help clean up after the third feeding of the day.

Nearly two dozen whales have died in the San Francisco Bay Area in recent months, according to animal rescue groups.

In April of 2022, experts with the Marine Mammal Center found a male harbor seal pup alone on Shell Beach in Sonoma County, far from his mother and showing signs of severe head trauma. The young ...

Rescuers were able to stabilize the dolphin and keep it hydrated until it could be transferred to the care of marine mammal ...

Volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center release California sea lions Quly (L) and Togozees (R) back to their ocean home at Rodeo Beach in Marin County, California, on August 4, 2023.

A northern elephant seal pup pokes its head above the water in its enclosure at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., where it is being cared for, on Friday, June 3, 2022.

The Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands of Sausalito will reopen its doors this week for the first time in two years, after being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2008, the mammal center operated on a $4 million budget, with 40 staffers and 800 volunteers. Now it requires $17 million, 110 employees and 1,200 volunteers.

Thanks to the Marine Mammal Center, my 6-year-old wants to find a beached sea lion. Or a seal (we now know the difference). Or an elephant seal, dolphin or pretty much any animal we can “rescue ...