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Seals seek symbiosis with swimming sapiens
They rebel against effort to protect them from us
June 6, 1997
Web posted at: 11:29 p.m. EDT (0329 GMT)From Correspondent Greg LaMotte
SAN DIEGO (CNN) -- Seals aren't supposed to like humans. They're supposed to be painfully shy, to be startled when people come anywhere near their vicinity.
Apparently, nobody taught the seals in La Jolla, California, how they're supposed to behave.
Not only do these seals willingly frolic with Homo sapiens, but they have also moved their favorite swimming hole to be closer to swimmers on the beach.
For decades, the hundreds of harbor seals who call La Jolla home used to hang out almost exclusively at a particular rock on the sea front. So three years ago, in an effort to protect them from the curious, well-meaning members of the City Council voted to make Seal Rock, as it was known, off-limits to people.
But apparently, no one consulted the seals to find out what they wanted. So they up and moved to a section of beachfront -- a tranquil cove protected by a man-made breaker that's designed to serve as a swimming area for children.
"The seals decided that Seal Rock wasn't their favorite place anymore and moved closer to the beach," lifeguard Chris Brewster says. "And for some reason, we've been unable to encourage them to move back to the place we thought they liked the most."
As a result of the seals' exodus to this new promised beach, a debate has ensued in this city just north of San Diego. Some folks feel the beach should be cleared of the seals, saying it belongs to humans. Others contend it is the humans who should be told to go away.
For the time being, however, a strange, peaceful co-existence has settled in along the shores of the Pacific.
Humans get in the water to experience bonding with their flippered friends, who are fearless enough to come within inches of the people in the water, sometimes swimming right under them.
The seals even seem to be emulating their human friends by coming out of the water to sun themselves on the sand.
In the end, then, perhaps what may be needed is a sign telling the seals to leave the humans alone.
Correspondent Greg LaMotte contributed to this report.
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