LAGUNA BEACH : Kris Ready for Life at Sea Again

Kris the sea lion has a crooked “smile,” but it’s a beautiful grin as far as Marine Mammal Center staff members are concerned.

Four months after washing ashore and being near death, her lower jaw broken apparently by someone with a club, Kris is scheduled to be released back to the wild Sunday after being nursed back to health by the center.

Surgery was performed to repair her jaw, and, although it slants slightly downward to the right, she is again able to catch fish. The 2-year-old animal, who weighed a mere 65 pounds when she was found on Main Beach on Dec. 17, is now up to a healthy 150 pounds.

“This is one of our success stories,” said staff veterinarian Tom Reidarson, who performed the surgery with veterinarian John Hamil. “We haven’t been real successful with jaw surgeries in the past. Nobody has.”

But, Reidarson said, through a little luck and Kris’ will to live, they pulled her through. The problem with jaw surgeries, he explained, is that the animals are usually emaciated when found and thus too weak for surgery. Also, a sea lion’s jaw has to be able to close almost completely to grasp fish and to dive beneath the water.

“Their head has to be streamlined, and if they can’t close their mouth, they’ll gulp water,” Reidarson said.

Judith Jones, the center’s director of operations, said center officials originally thought Kris was a male and, because it was just before Christmas, named the sea lion after Kris Kringle. But Kris was found to be a female during surgery.

“Before sea lions reach maturity (at about five years) it is very difficult to tell their sex,” she said. “It isn’t until they are older that the males get bigger, darker and grow a crown or bump on their head and get a mane.”

In fact, Kris is proving to be a bit of a flirt.

Lying in her cage this week, Kris stretched out next to the fence that separated her from a large male sea lion. He stayed by the fence, trying to nuzzle her through the wire, but she paid him no mind.

Soon, she arose and jumped into a pool with some other females for a quick dip before returning to the fence to continue teasing the bull.

“I don’t think she’ll have any problem returning to the wild,” Jones said. “I doubt she’ll even turn back. While other sea lions will take food out of our hand, she won’t. We have to drop it and leave. But maybe that’s because of her painful experience with someone with a club.”