Co-existing with Sea Lions: Don’t Become a Viral Hit

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1. Weasel wording from NOAA again. The article is about sea lions and they talk about seals. They have no reported cases of seals biting anybody so they cite “reports of a number of injuries to humans as a result of getting too close to an animal”.

   And that cited sea lion was not intending any harm or he would have done some. People were making him jump for treats. He popped up and spied something left for him and grabbed what looked like a bag of stuff. He had a 1/4 second to make a decision. No harm done.
   NOAA PR is just trying to justify driving everybody away from docks or beaches where their surplus animals have overflowed into.
   Sabre rattling to make up for their impotence in the face of unintended consequence of over populating the state with marine mammals past the mandate of the MMPA.
   They cite the same old story of the guy holding the fish where a sea lion could jump up and steal it. The sea lion took the fish, hand and all and spat out the fisherman. No malice intended. I don’t mean to stand up for sea lions as lovely things, but point out the lies NOAA is broadcasting to justify closing facilities to the public by intimidation and gossip where they should be removing the marine mammals they rescued and released in urban areas. They have stopped working by the law and gone completely to PR and fake news.
   They let people sell urban marine mammals as worth exploiting for tourist attractions to replace revenue lost to the fishing industry and then think they can control that remotely.

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2. I don’t blame the animals at all. I blame the majority for being too stupid to be anywhere near these animals, thereby initiating conflict and putting themselves in harms way. Yes, the animals are nice to look at and appreciate, but it must be done with common sense. Take your photos from a safe distance and think before you do stupid things.

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