January is slow season for beach tourists, but busy for the Marine Mammal Stranding Center to get calls for beached seals.
Keep reading Atlantic City seal hospital gears up for busy season
|
Court rules NOAA can’t just ignore the amount of salmon killed by dams and fishermen, then go nuclear on sea lions, who kill far less of the migratory fish. Keep reading Court says fisheries can’t punish sea lions when dams and fishermen kill more salmon  Capt. Dave Beezer says that, despite stories the media hype, this year isn’t so special. They’re starting to see this many blue whales every year. “Santa Barabara is becoming the best place in the world to see blue whales,” he says. Keep reading Blue Whale Bonanza  Want to see sea lions in LA? Go to Marina Del Rey, just south of Venice Beach. By a fishing dock, you’ll see plenty of pelicans and a few sea lions trying to steal a meal. Keep reading For Pelicans and Sea Lions in LA, Go to Marina Del Rey San Francisco Parties for Return of Runaway Sea Lions (and one of few marine mammal success stories) Sea lions being admired, courtesy of Pier 39 San Francisco is having a party today to celebrate the return of the best urban marine mammal attractions in the country. The city appreciates its sea lions and is just saying, thank goodness they’ve come home. When they disappeared from Pier 39 last fall the whole world was worried. (Well, except for those who said that they tend to come and go. Which, it turns out, was right.) Salty The Sea Lion mascot will be “available for hugs and photos,” a press release says. The Pier is also celebrating 20 years of having hundreds of 600-pound predators in a major city. They started showing up after a 1989 earthquake. Instead of getting ousted from valuable real estate, they city enjoyed them as a natural wonder–and created a major tourist attraction. This could have gone down differently. The sea lions took over expensive boat docks. Sure, the Marine Mammal Protection Act covers them. But the government is always willing to make exceptions. Oregon fishermen got permission to kill sea lions that hang out at a dam where salmon congregate. Last year when 1,700 sea lions showed up, they tested San Francisco’s tolerance. The harbor drew up plans to keep them away from the nearby Hyde Street Pier. The population numbers go up and down with weather, currents and food availability, so maybe they won’t need to be pushed out. The sea lions’ movements are still inscrutable, but the best going theory Keep reading San Francisco Parties for Return of Runaway Sea Lions (and one of few marine mammal success stories) 
It’s hard to know what we should worry about San Francisco’s missing 1,700 sea lions. That they (and the popular tourist destination they’ve become) disappeared almost completely? Or should we blame the media for overblowing a normal seasonal swing, as Newsweek does? Or should we be more anxious that the population there was about double the usual number, which the area can’t really support? Harbormaster Hedley Prince think the story has gotten absurd media play considering their numbers always dip in the winter. He’s more worried about keeping the Hyde Street Pier clear of sea lions and wants to get permission to try a gentler method than electric shocks and pellets: he wants trained dogs to chase them away. But, meanwhile, like everyone else, he can’t figure out why they vacated so completely. “This should be their happy time,” Prince says, noting that a herring spawn means there’s plenty of food. But these California sea lions have always been inscrutable. No one knew why they showed up in 1989, why they reached record numbers this year. “Suddenly in August they all showed up,” says Prince. “It was the craziest thing.” A dozen or so sea lions are still out in the area of Pier 39 and the Hyde Street Pier, Prince says. (You see the live webcam, though it’s pretty boring right now.) Three have fishing lines around their necks, the Marine Mammal Center says, which is trying to rescue them. The big males took off to Keep reading SF Sea Lions Still Missing; But Plans Hatching to Keep Next Year’s Crowd in Check  New England Aquarium, Boston, Play with Marine Mammals The New England Aquarium lets you play with their sea lions and seals. In the last few years a number of animal rescue groups and traditional aquariums have hit on the idea of, well, basically, pimping out their animals. You pay a little extra and get a little extra contact, how much depends on how much you pay.The New England Aquarium has two programs. For $30 you can feed seals, but for $125 you get to help feed, entertain and train sea lions, seals and maybe a large turtle.It’s a small group–just three–and the real trainers are incredibly gracious in letting you enjoy the fun part of their job. Still, I felt a little bit idiotic since it was me and two kids. (They say it’s about half and half adults to kids. And that often parents bring kids, but it’s obviously really for mom or dad.)We started off with the sea lions, who are soon leaving for Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. We got to see the sea lions’ kitchen and warm indoor pool. When we went outside, the sea lions, Guthrie, an 838 pound mush, and Ballou, a younger, smaller and more shy sea lion.Guthrie watches the crowds and came by as soon as we walked in–assuming it was feeding time. We got to feel his thick wet fur, massive fins. We each put fish in his mouth, which was big but full of worn down, black teeth so not Keep reading Pay to Play with a Seal Lion in Boston |
SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG
|
|
Copyright © 2024 AnimalTourism News - All Rights Reserved |
|
Recent Comments