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The starving sea lion pup was so tiny that it looked like a rock at the base of the seaside cliff until it struggled to raise its head as humans walked near.

At almost a year, the pup weighed just 23 pounds — a third of what it should — and staff quietly took it to a private room and moved on.

More than 1,650 pups have been saved since January from beaches. It's not unusual to have some sea lions wash up each spring as the pups leave their mothers, but so far, the number of stranded babies is more than five times greater than in 2013, the worst season in recent memory.

"These animals are coming in really desperate. They're at the end of life. They're in a crisis ... and not all animals are going to make it," said Keith A. Matassa, executive director at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. Scientists aren't sure what's causing the crisis, but suspect that warmer waters this winter.

The warm water is likely pushing most of sea lion foods— further north, forcing the mothers to give up their pups for up to eight days at a time in search of food.

The goal is to get the pups strong enough to swim free again — but the volunteers who nurse them back to health may never know if they make it in the wild.

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