349th squadron commander is marine mammals heroine

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Ellen L. Hatfield
  • 349th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE,Calif. --  It's a far stretch from being a communications squadron commander to nursing sick seals back to health from the brink of death, but that is Lt. Col. Karen Bosko's passion away from her Air Force Reserve career.

Colonel Bosko, 23rd Combat Communications Squadron commander, spends her time volunteering at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., for more than eight years.
The center was founded in 1975 as a nonprofit organization which "rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured, sick and orphaned marine mammals (seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, whales and sea otters) along a 600-mile stretch of California coastline from Mendocino County through San Luis Obispo County. Before the center was established, stranded marine mammals were either left to die or were destroyed as threats to public health."

Colonel Bosko is now a fully-trained animal rehabilitator who, for the past six years, has also been a member of the Water Rescue Team.

"We are a small, specialized team of volunteers dedicated to capturing the 'hard to get' sea lions," said Colonel Bosko. "It's a combination of some of my favorite things: teamwork, physical challenges, water and animals!"

Colonel Bosko's skills as an animal rehabilitator were recognized when she received a desperate plea via e-mail before Christmas 2009. The Lenie T. Hart Seal Rehabilitation and Research Center in the Netherlands urgently needed several rehabilitation experts to help common and gray seals. "There had been a huge increase in common seals with lung worms," said the Colonel Bosko. Due to immediate assistance, Colonel Bosko was on a plane to Amsterdam on Dec. 26, which entailed speedy coordination with both her military and civilian supervisors.

Bosko noted, "For four solid weeks, living at the rehab center, working from 7 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. most days, the work was endless, and the center was running way over its capacity, with more than 200 patients."

During this rescue initiative, office space was converted to critical care areas, temporary buildings and tents were erected, temporary plumbing was installed and bath tubs were purchased. Every bit of usable space was engaged in the fight for the lives of the gentle seals.

"Animal care included tube feeding a fish porridge, force feeding whole herring, hand feeding herring, free feeding and cleaning and disinfecting each holding area three times a day. "Common seals at about six months old defend themselves with sharp teeth and nails. Bites were a common occurrence and scratches were a guarantee," said Colonel Bosko.

With her high experience level, she was responsible for up to 16 animals each day. Industriously, after working her last shift, she arrived back home in less than 24 hours.

Amazingly, the day after she returned from Holland, she was at Moss Landing to join her Water Rescue Team for a second day of attempts to rescue Abagnale, an adult male sea lion, who was entangled around the face and neck in nets and debris. This was part of a team which rescues mostly California Sea Lions with human-inflicted injuries - gun shots and entanglements - in hard to reach locations such as piers, floating docks and rock pilings. Many of their rescues in the Northern California coast and waterways are around the Coast Guard Pier in Monterey and Pier 39 in San Francisco.

"Without human intervention, most would die from the human-caused injuries," said Colonel Bosko. "One of our rescues, named Sergeant Nevis [Named after the sheriff who found him and called in his rescue] was suffering from a gunshot wound to the face. These successful rescues hit local and national news stories, too."

Colonel Bosko's Air Force career has been similarly commendable. This California native arrived at Travis in June 2001. Her active-duty assignments took her from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., to Verona, Italy, and across another continent to Onizuka Air Base, Japan. She also has deployed to Germany in 2002, Kuwait in 2004 and Iraq in 2008.