Judge says La Jolla seals must go; governor says otherwise

A Superior Court judge Monday ordered the city of San Diego to shoo the harbor seals off the beach at the Children's Pool in La Jolla by Thursday.

But within hours, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that will allow the city to declare the beach a marine sanctuary and allow the seals to remain.

An attorney representing the pro-seal faction in the two-decade dispute pitting seals vs. children is seeking a restraining order from a federal judge that would block the city from removing the seals.

And Mayor Jerry Sanders, saying the city is prepared, albeit reluctantly, to abide with the Superior Court judge’s dictum, pleaded with both sides in the dispute to remain civil.

The day’s seal activities began with Superior Court Judge Yuri Hoffmann declaring, as he has done in the past, that the 1931 deed from the state to the city requires that the beach be maintained as a place for children.

Hoffmann said he was not prepared to wait to see if the governor would sign by a bill passed by the Legislature and sponsored by state Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego).

Within hours, however, the governor had signed the bill. Earlier he had vowed not to sign any bills until the deadlocked Legislature passed a budget. The bill amends that 1931 deed to eliminate the requirement that the beach be maintained for humans.

The City Council, after paying more than $1 million in legal fees over the issue, is eager to walk away and escape further payments.  SB428 is meant to allow the city to do that.

Attorney Bryan Pease plans to inform the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals about the governor’s action, in hopes that it will convince the justices to issue an order blocking Hoffmann’s order to disperse the seals.

The city plans to use a public address system to blare out the sound of dogs barking in hopes of convincing the seals to slither back to the ocean. The cost of keeping the seals off the beach has been estimated at $700,000 a year, including the salaries of police officers to protect city employees controlling the public address system.

For decades the tiny beach was a favorite of families, offering clean sand and a protected cove. But two decades ago the harbor seals decided to make the beach their resting and pupping place. Their feces has made the beach unusable for humans but watching the seals has become a tourist attraction.

The dispute has led to a standoff between the Superior Court, seeking to enforce the 1931 deed, and the federal court, pointing to federal laws protecting harbor seals from being harassed.

Under Hoffmann's ruling, the city has 72 hours to disperse the seals into the water.

 -- Tony Perry in San Diego

Comments

[Pearl]

The seals are more important than the safety of our children? That's not right.

[LisaNewton]

Personally I love the seals in La Jolla. I've never seen seals in their "natural" habitat before and visiting La Jolla was an eye opener. :)

[Dan]

No one's safety is at risk here except the safety of the seals, who would have difficulty finding another place to go. With their proximity to downtown La Jolla and the nearby Cove, they are a cherished attraction to locals and tourists alike. There's no good reason to kick them out, and the vocal minority of residents who say otherwise act as though they have forgotten that the gorgeous, family-friendly La Jolla Shores beach is less than five minutes away.

[La Jolla born]

That was where I learned to love swimming in the ocean as a child. Someone in 1931 gives that property for children and we give it to seals? I hope they have barbecues in celebration of Korean New Years of roast dog each year on the cliff top with the animal rights people as waiters and waitresses. If they spit in the food send them to County Jail for six months so they can see what people who had deprived childhoods are like to live with up close and personal.

[sandy]

San Diego has plenty of beaches for families! The seals picked one spot to raise their young. Come on! It's because it's in La Jolla and not in Imperial Beach. That is the real reason! Location location location! Please we would not have this debate.

Use the $700,000.00 for jobs and school programs and not for ridding of our seals marine life.

What we use the Children's Pool during the summertime and the seals use it 24/7.

Did you see the waves crashing against the wall. Very unsafe for kids. I would not let my kids swimm there!

Bravo Governor Terminator!!! Least he's concerned about animals and the California Budget.

Put this to an end and just name it. La Jolla Seal Cove. Have field trips and educational information about wildlife there!!!

[Barbara]

How is the safety of our children an issue. The beach is unusable. Kids shouldn't be there in the first place.

[lolol]

Pearl: your children need to go to the beach in order to survive? that's not right.

[Anne]

Actually, your children have plenty other places to go and are not anywhere near endangerment as a species. In fact, the planet is crawling with more than enough humans to ensure the species' survival. Meanwhile, marine animals are having a tough time finding a safe location for their own offspring and are threatened with extinction. So actually, it IS right to balance the rights of your children with the rights of the other creatures with whom we share this planet. Your children's' right to one particular beach is not as important as my children's right to enjoy the full diversity of life on this planet.

[Bob]

Safety of our children? Are you (Pearl) suggesting society move or remove any wildlife that could hurt our children when it would be the parents' decision to put their children in harms way? The question should be: should the city move the seals for the benefit of the residents but a loss for the seals and tourists?

[Hooligan]

Everyone knows seals are more important then children.

[LeslieRN72]

I will comment from a tourist's perspective. I live in the midwest. My family and I have traveled to San Diego several times over the last 10 years because it is such a lovely place to vacation.
Each and every time we travel to San Diego, we head up to La Jolla for a day. Do we go there because it is a quaint little town? No. We go there to see the seals. We always end up spending money in a restaurant or shop while we are there. If the seals were not in La Jolla we would not take the time out of our day to make the trip. Sorry, the seals are the main attraction for us and the quaint town of La Jolla is simply a bonus.

[zenduck]

I think it's a bit rich for a commenter calling him/herself "La Jolla born" to try to turn this into an issue about people with "deprived childhoods." Like your family's gardeners or cooks, perhaps? Believe me, La Jolla has never been welcoming to lower-class beachgoers, unlike PB and OB. Hooray for the seals and for Chris Kehoe!

[BILL]

The seals should, indeed, retain a portion of their original habitat to haul out with their pups. We people have plenty of beaches we've claimed for ourselves. Share the earth with our fellow creatures.

[Michelle]

When you think about it... was it really anyones to "give" in the first place? It belonged to nature first, and if nature wants it back, we shouldn't be so greedy as to demand it be used for swimmers, who can easily swim on other parts of the beach.
Seals, however, NEED the beach to live- unlike us, who would just use it as a silly recreational place.

[Robin]

When natural predators inhabited the shorelines, such as mountain lions, bears and coyotes, marine mammals like seals and otters had their pups on islands and large ocean rocks. Now that they are protected, they come ashore in areas where they would not have ventured centuries ago. Seals have actually become quite problematic around piers and harbors all along our coast.

[TN]

Wow Robin, thanks for your insight. I didn't know that seals had to go to Catalina or Santa Cruz Island to raise their young before they became 'protected'. And you go on to add that seals are now "problematic around piers and harbors all along our coast" without citing any examples.

This debate is not about problematic seals, it's about who has the right to use the beach - humans or seals. I for one, have been down to see the La Jolla seals a couple of times and I find it a rare treat to see these creatures thrive in a natural habitat. I'm sure the thousands of people who visit La Jolla only to see the seals would agree.

[LJ Resident]

Who are these parents that are fighting so hard to allow their children to swim and play in an area that has been contaminated by seal feces for the past two decades? By the time the area is clean enough for safe swimming, those children will be old enough to go to the beach that’s less than 200 ft down the path. In the meantime, the rest of us get to enjoy an empty beach, listening to the sound of dogs barking and protesters arguing for the next year and maybe even beyond. And really, there are no other beaches on the California coast that are sufficient for children to use? Really?

[GingerAle]

Wow this is dumb. We have hundreds of miles of beach. This just seems like a bunch of nostalgic people that aren't willing to let go of a tiny alcove of sand because they are selfish. I gaurantee the guy who donated the beach in the first place had no idea that it would become a shelter for a precious species, not to mention a tourist attraction for La Jolla. We aren't the only beings that benefit from the beaches --- and its not like we depend on them to survive, we just enjoy them. Geez people quite being so greedy!

[Brad Woods]

So anytime one of God's wild creatures comes into a public area should we draw a line in the sand and hold up signs "Do Not Disturb the -- whatever it is"?
How is that nature's way? You could do that anywhere for any creature.

[Karen Woods]

The Childrens Pool has become nothing but a small zoo for seals. Real seal colonies are huge and awesome and can be found in remote areas up and down the entire west coast.
About 200 miles down the Baja coastline there's miles and miles of seal colonies.
Check out the Farallones Island just west of San Francisco. There's about 5,000 seals, which is a Great White Shark hunting ground.
Is all the fuss just about a few tourists? What about the thousands of people kayaking, surfing, diving, swimming, etc. in the immediate area?
Let nature have its way and erase the line in the sand, if it's not too late.

[John]

There are miles of beaches here in San Diego. There are very few places where wild life can be safely viewed and enjoyed. I would think it was just as important for children to be able to view life in its natural form as it is for them to be able to swim in this particular (probably now polluted) place.
Is this a sad reflection on our own limited vision when we find it necessary to drive away all living things for our own short sighted purpose?

[Katie Stepp]

I think the seals need to stay. We loved to watch them in there natural habitat. It was important for my children to see them this way and not in a enclosure. That beach is too rough for anybody to swim anyways, I would never take my kids or myself there anyways. Why not just let the seals be? It's such a small area anyways. Besides haven't we taken up enough of the coast line for residences, factories, and other buildings?