without rangers and tourists to discourage them during shutdown, elephant seals took over beach

[Demovictory9]

https://www.petaluma360.com/news/9224166-181/point-reyes-national-seashore-reopens


But in a bit of irony, one of the biggest challenges facing the seashore staff also could put limits on a popular park attraction: Drakes Beach, located at the edge of Drakes Bay and site of one of the seashore’s three visitor centers.


In the absence of heavy visitor traffic and regular staff wildlife management, the burgeoning elephant seal colony that has been drifting along the shoreline from Chimney Rock for several years appears to have gotten a foothold at Drakes Beach, though it’s not entirely clear where the elephant seals there came from.

What’s clear is they find it a safe and protected place to bear offspring.

By Monday, there were about 50 females with 40 pups and more on the way, as well as a dominant bull and several subordinates.

Some of them in recent weeks had been found up in the parking lot, under picnic tables and even on the ramp up toward the visitor center, having clambered over a wooden fence and leaving it in pieces, Dell’Osso said.

While in the past a few stray, subordinate males had made their way to Drakes Beach, and two years ago two females and their pups had appeared, seashore scientists, with proper permission, have generally been able to keep them away using accepted hazing techniques like shaking tarps, said Press, the wildlife ecologist, and marine ecologist Sarah Codde.

But this year, nothing can be done except ensure the pups and their mothers are allowed to have their space unbothered and that human visitors, too, are not put in harm’s way, officials said.


Some of the pups are mere days old, Codde said, and most will have been born by the second week of February. They usually are weaned around the first week in March, and then the pups depart in April.

















Elephant seals took over a Pt. Reyes beach during shutdown. It won't reopen anytime soon.

You know the saying: When the cat's away the mice will play. It appears the Bay Area is ready to coin a new turn of phrase: When the rangers are gone the elephant seals will swarm.

When tourism decreased and wildlife management staff were furloughed during the government shutdown, an elephant seal colony in Point Reyes National Seashore spread from their normal spot on the beach to an area normally frequented by humans.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO
The seals took over at Drakes Beach, knocking down a fence and moving into the parking lot, and they remained lounging in the sand after the park reopened Sunday, leading staff to close the road from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to the beach.

The park is home to a colony of about 1,500 elephant seals and John Dell'Osso, chief of interpretation and resource education for the seashore, says they tend to frequent Chimney Beach. That stretch of waterfront features 100-foot-tall cliffs keep them protected and mostly hidden from the public.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Point-Reyes-Drakes-Beach-elephant-seals-13570578.php#photo-16845099

[Auggie]

1. Okay by me. They were here first anyhow.

[lunatica]

2. Funny that

Man leaves and Nature comes back. There must be a lesson there someplace...

Wonder what it could be.

[CharleyDog]

3. I wish humans would back off in many more places to allow our

beautiful garden of eden to thrive, instead of being degenerated by human selfishness.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. +1000000.

[ret5hd]

4. I, for one, welcome...

the seals back home.

(I know what you thought I was gonna say!)

[UniteFightBack]

5. I think humans should be banned from all National Parks that were damaged for quite awhile. nt

[uponit7771]

6. The elephant seals would be able to negotiate better than Red Don, understand them better too.

America's president is stupid

[msongs]

7. maybe some orcas will move into the neighborhood nt

[LanternWaste]

8. Idiot-trump may have found the crisis/invasion he's been salivating over...

Were it any other President, I'd joke that "this is the manufactured crisis they're looking for!!! Hordes of seals who rape, take drugs and steal (and I'm sure there are a few good seals too) invading our shores!!!"

But it's idiot-trump, and I can't be sure he'd actually dismiss it.

[Volaris]

9. Fine by me heh...

If we can't figure out how to at least share what we've taken from the natural world, then I kinda think we don't deserve to keep it. If the seals wanna chill and have pups for a few weeks out of the year on a beach IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN WINTER, im down with sharing that beach for two months...otherwise, what kinda asshole am I?

[kskiska]

10. I remember seeing a TV program that showed how quickly

nature reclaimed land in the absence of humans. It was very graphic, showing what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared. Pets became wild and vegetation quickly covered our homes, streets, and buildings.

[SoCalDem]

22. Mt St Helens 30+ year "vacation" from humans yielded a great recovery

I watched a documentary about it ..was great

[aikoaiko]

11. The male Elephant Seal is my spirit animal.

[lunatica]

21. Isn't that his mate?

In the wildlife videos I’ve seen over the years that’s the behavior of the male and female(s) during the mating season. The males don’t care about the offspring.

[Flaleftist]

12. Good for them.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. A place Trump could sunbathe without attracting attention

So long as another male doesn't consider him a rival or even worse mistakes him for a female seal.

[betsuni]

15. So the beach is sealed off?

[Demovictory9]

16. Yes. They are going to let the mama seals finish raising their babies

That's my understanding

[Demovictory9]

17. But this year, nothing can be done except ensure the pups and their mothers are allowed to have thei

But this year, nothing can be done except ensure the pups and their mothers are allowed to have their space unbothered and that human visitors, too, are not put in harm’s way, officials said.

[Raine]

18. Good for them...

[Stuart G]

19. San Francisco?? seals...here and there and everywhere...

I remember being there at Fisherman's Warf a couple of times..2009, and 2007..and the seals were laying all over the Warf. I took some pictures..those pics are in a lost pile..somewhere...Maybe I'll post them...let you know...

[Demovictory9]

20. they are still there.

[Vinca]

23. Keep this a secret. Don's apt to declare open season on hunting elephant seals.

[MineralMan]

24. There's a beach off Highway 1, just south of San Simeon,

where elephant seals have been populating for many years. It's right near the road, with parking areas right there, and well-traveled paths to several observation areas just off the beach. Tourists routinely stop to watch the elephant seals, which don't seem to be troubled by the observers. I've been there several times to watch them. They're aware of the humans, but unconcerned by them. Very few people have ventured down to the beach, since there are signs and since elephant seals are very large creatures.

I imagine the elephant seals mentioned in that story are now there to stay. They may have arrived due to the shutdown and less traffic, but now that they're there, I think they'll probably stick around.