Sea Rescue

A humpback whale is dragging a mass of commercial fishing gear in its mouth; a sea turtle has swallowed three fishing hooks.

A dolphin gets stuck in a muddy inlet; rescuers have to mother a baby sea otter found all alone on a beach.

A young sea lion wanders into a local seafood restaurant and curls up in a booth; thousands of common murres turn up hungry and exhausted on California beaches.

Marine life affected by contaminated water includes pelicans and sea lions; two ecological disasters in the San Francisco Bay.

A humpback whale is tangled in fishing gear; a leatherback sea turtle turns up in a Florida backyard.

California sea lions come ashore starving and emaciated.

A manatee gets stuck in water that is too cold for him to survive; saving the clapper rail, an endangered coastal bird.

The U.S. Coast Guard saves wildlife; a police officer tries to save a drowning sea turtle.

A humpback whale is tangled in commercial fishing gear; a sea lion has a gill net wrapped around its neck.

A very young harbor seal is separated from its mother and may die; a loggerhead sea turtle is rescued after an oil spill.

A manatee found in Texas must be airlifted to Florida; cold-stunned sea turtles are airlifted back to warmer waters; a dolphin boards a plane to join the U.S. Navy.

How discarded plastic affects the oceans and marine life; hundreds of sea turtles come ashore close to death in North Carolina because of plunging water temperatures.

Two rarely seen pygmy killer whales strand in Mississippi and the mission begins to save them; an inquisitive young sea lion climbs into a car and turns on the wipers before the rescue team arrives.

A sea lion is rescued after being bitten by a shark, and she's in desperate need of medical help; a dolphin is stuck in a freshwater bayou, so a rescue team responds.

A humpback whale is tangled in fishing gear, so rescuers race to the scene to help; a sea lion has fishing line wrapped tight around its neck.

A young harbor seal is stuck in a narrow, rocky crevice; severe storms cause a young dolphin to strand on a beach and rescuers make history trying to save him.

Four starving sea lion pups are rescued from a Southern California beach, but rescuers have their hands full trying to get them well again; a manatee is struck by a boat and suffers devastating injuries.

An oiled otter in danger of freezing; two stranded orphan otters are helpless; an otter in Vancouver suffers from devastating human-caused injuries.

A devastating storm approaches a small island in the middle of the Pacific, threatening the lives of thousands of albatross and their chicks; an entangled sea lion evades rescuers for months, and its injury is much worse than expected.

A wandering manatee becomes trapped in frigid waters; a gray seal is stuck in a canal.

A curious elephant seal gets a surprising injury; a manatee is stuck in cold water.

A young humpback whale becomes entangled in fishing gear along the California coast; a bird-watcher out for a walk with his dog spots a young seal in a field, surrounded by a herd of cows.

The rescue team walks several miles to help a stranded, starving sea lion pup; rescuers and a pilot join forces to get a sea turtle back to his ocean home.

A manatee mother and calf are in trouble; a loggerhead sea turtle overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds.

A mother turtle gives everything for her hatchlings; a manatee can't swim normally; a harbor seal can't swallow her food; another seal narrowly escapes falling prey to a shark.

Shark populations are in serious trouble, but conservationists around the world are working hard to ensure these incredible animals are around for generations; rescue teams save a manatee that has been struck by a boat and can't swim on its own.