Lucky Pup

Client: John Cunningham, then-Executive Director sometime between 1981 and 1988 of our local Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Care Center just off Laguna Canyon Road in the Laguna Canyon area of Laguna Beach, California.

I was a part-time / occasional volunteer for three years in 1981 through 1983. I learned the hard, meticulous, lovingly hands-on and dirty work required to nurse, husband and wrangle sick pinnipeds (Seals, elephant seals, and sea lions).

This is a classic Pacific Ocean/Southern California kelp beds wildlife render which shows my family-friendly, Disney-esque side. It is part of my world wildlife portfolio. The orcas are transient, and are casually hunting the kelp beds off of Saint Anne's Street Beach in Laguna Beach. The pup caught on to their hunt, before the whales bulldozed for themselves an ambush through the kelp, saving him from being dinner for one or more. He's a "Lucky Pup."