California sea lion Makea dies at Marineland

One of Marineland's sea lions 'Makea' has died after being given a general anaesthetic when he became uninterested in his food.

Napier City Council spokesperson Neil Fergus said the 22-year old sea lion had shown signs of being unwell for a number of days leading up to his death. 

Uninterested in his food, he said Marineland's vet was called and closely monitored the Sea Lion over the following few days.   Makea was proving difficult to medicate due to his unwillingness to eat. 

On the advice of Marineland's vet Massey University was told of Makea's ill health from which they promptly sent a team up of vets, support staff and specialist equipment such as x-ray machines and scanners.

"Unfortunately Makea did not recover from the general anaesthetic that was given to him to help with the team's initial examination and assessment," said Mr Fergus in a statement.

An autopsy was performed while the Massey specialist team was at Marineland to determine the seal's cause of death and the results will be available in the near future.