Laguna Beach Tutors

About Laguna Beach

If you go to the right beaches in California, you will get the amazing experience of viewing sea lions! Some places you’re able to see them out on the ocean sunbathing on some rocks. Other places they might be as close as right under your feet, on the sublevel of some docks. You might see them in their natural habitat, splashing and diving in the waves as they fish and play. This held true for the city of Laguna Beach just like many other cities in California. Today there are six conservation facilities for animals like the sea lion, however the first one of its kind was started in Laguna Beach, even before the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

In 1971 a certain lifeguard by the name of Jim Stauffer was going to have his whole life changed in one day, though he didn’t know it yet. He worked as a lifeguard for a local beach in the summers, and one day a little girl ran up to him for a sea lion that was sitting on the beach. Jim jumped into his jeep and drove over the little mammal, attempting to load it into his jeep. The sea lion jumped right out, however, so Jim assumed the animal was fine and was just resting. After he went home he couldn’t stop thinking about that little sea lion, and wondering if it was okay. When he returned to the spot the next day to find the sea lion still there, he loaded up the animal and took it to Dover Shores Animal Hospital, where the veterinarian there diagnosed the poor thing with lung worms. The veterinarian gave advice and guidelines about care to Jim, and he took the animal home and nursed it back to health, before freeing it back into the ocean.

The rest as they say, is history, and Jim became the go to go for any sea lions found on the beach. Within a few weeks he had his next sea lion. Jim worked as a high school teacher during the year where he no doubt also worked as a Laguna Beach tutor, and with his new passion in mind he developed a marine science class. One of the requirements of being in the class was volunteering at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. The center now functions as a rehabilitation facility, helping countless animals heal and get back into the wild. If you’ve just finished up a lesson with your Laguna Beach tutor, the center may be a good place to visit, as they also provide a lot of educational classes and materials.