Most everyone has heard of La Jolla, the community of San Diego, also known as the Jewel By the Sea. Well there is a place along the coast in La Jolla called the Children's Pool, and what brings a lot of people to see this area (besides of the beauty of the coast itself) is the 50 or so seals that can be seen laying on the beach here. As most people know, there is not very much of the Southern California coast that has not been taken over by people, so for many this sort of place to see wildlife is quite a novelty.

The reason this area has attracted the seals is that a big sea wall was built many years ago to shelter this part of the beach, which is what makes it desirable for the seals. Well, the problem is that this sea wall was initially built and funded by Ellen Browning Scripps in the early 30s to create a protected place for children to play in the area, since a large part of this area is rocky and has strong currents. Thus the name Children's Pool.

So the problem now is that a Superior Court judge has ruled that this should be given back to the children, for it's original purpose. So now the seals have to go. This has been an issue for many years and has worked its way through the court system, only to have this ruling just the other day.

See this article here http://www.10news.com/news/19581131/detail.html.

My problem with all this is that humans have everything, we have swimming pools and the majority of the rest of the coast. Not to mention how many other cases there are everywhere every day of animals getting screwed by human development. Why are we wasting our time kicking seals off of our beaches? Sure, the "pool" was created with other intentions, but it is one of the few places in a city this size that people, both tourists and locals, young and old, can come see a bit of nature. I say let the seals stay.

Labels: environment, news, San Diego, seals