Two sea lions and an elephant seal brought to SeaWorld San Diego after last week's major oil spill near Santa Barbara have died, theme park officials said today.
That brings the total of oil-soaked marine mammals who have died at SeaWorld as a result of the spill to five. Two sea lions died previously.
SeaWorld says its animal care specialists are working with 22 marine mammals that have been brought to their Oiled Wildlife Care Center. They all are considered to be in guarded condition.
One of the recent deaths was of a sea lion that was euthanized after it began having seizures and became unresponsive to care, according to park officials.
Necropsies were scheduled to determine the causes of death for the other sea lion and the elephant seal.
The animals were soaked as up to 105,000 gallons of oil spilled near Refugio Beach.
Three specialists with SeaWorld's animal rescue team remain at the beach. A specialist in caring for oil-soaked birds are scheduled to help the staff at the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center in San Pedro beginning on Sunday.
