IIISZABOIII
07-21-2009, 04:53 PM
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_SEAL_NUISANCE?SITE=WFAA&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
Almost $700K for recorded sounds of barking dogs. I can not begin to imagine how such recordings could cost so much, even if you were to be playing them through a sound system that would rival that of a music festivals set up. The sound system is the only thing I could think of that would warrant any significant amount of funding, but $700K????
Then you have to go through the whole process again, this time for the people who are annoyed by the sounds of dogs barking all the time. More court time and money wasted.
I may be missing something and I don't live out there, but come on... move down to another part of the beach and leave that part to the seals. Just leave nature alone as the beach is apparently only one of two where the seals give birth and nurse their young.
EDIT: I just realized you may have to subscibe to the news site, so here is the article.
San Diego will seek lifting of seal removal order
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- San Diego will ask a judge to lift an order giving the city 72 hours to scare a colony of harbor seals away from a La Jolla cove called the Children's Pool.
City Attorney Jan Goldsmith says the city will make the request on Thursday and will appeal if the judge refuses.
Activists have squared off for a decade in the courts over whether the cove should be for humans or seals. After a judge ruled Monday that the seals must go, officials said they'd spend up to $700,000 to scare them off with the recorded sounds of barking dogs.
Goldsmith says the city decided to get the order lifted after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a state bill late Monday giving San Diego power to allow the seal colony to remain.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A colony of federally protected harbor seals is causing a stink about whether it should spend its days lounging at a popular San Diego cove or be sent packing.
On Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that adds a marine mammal park to the list of acceptable uses for the sheltered cove where the seals have lived for years.
The potential reprieve came just hours after a San Diego judge ordered the city to begin chasing the pesky pinnipeds from the beach by Thursday - or risk hefty fines - to comply with a 2005 order to restore the cove to its original condition.
Gina Coburn, a spokeswoman for the city attorney's office, said city officials will hold a news conference Tuesday to announce their plans now that state law includes a provision for the seals at the site.
Environmentalists rejoiced at the news and had high hopes for the seals at Children's Pool, one of two beaches in Southern California where harbor seals give birth and nurse their young.
The bill means that the city, which had planned to spend $688,000 chasing away the seals, has legal grounds to ask the judge to change his order, said Bryan Pease, an attorney for several pro-seal groups.
"Now it's clear that under state law the seals can stay," he said. "This is really a game-changer. This is really the end of the road for the anti-seal forces."
Before Schwarzenegger's reprieve, the city said it planned to hire someone to walk the beach with a public address system broadcasting the sound of barking dogs to scare off the seals, said Andrew Jones, the assistant city attorney for civil litigation. Force cannot be used because the seals are a federally protected marine species.
The issue is so hotly contested that the city had planned to deploy two police officers to the site to prevent interference by pro-seal activists, he said.
"There's certainly a lot of emotions revolving around this issue. We expect that this person could be harassed, even physically attacked," Jones said after the judge's ruling.
The city has said in the past that if the bill was signed it would likely declare the small beach a seal sanctuary and the City Council approved a resolution several years ago favoring the pinnipeds, Jones said. The seals attract dozens of tourists each day who watch them as they doze in horizontal rows and paddle lazily about the shallow, sheltered cove.
"The seals need rest each day. If they don't get their rest, their health will be jeopardized and the local community will also suffer a huge economic cost," said Dorota Valli, who coordinates a pro-seal campaign for the Animal Protection and Rescue League. "It's an enormous tourist draw."
At the pool Monday, about two dozen seals lounged on the sand in a light marine fog, oblivious to the legal tussle over their fate.
One human observer wasn't impressed.
"I don't particularly like them. I think they smell, and I'm not interested in looking at them," said Kees Hendricks, 60, of Vancouver Island in Canada. "I don't think there should be a whole beach for the seals."
Children's Pool was created by a sea wall built in 1931 through a gift by La Jolla philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. The state, which owns the cove, subsequently placed the beach in a trust and listed several possible public uses for it, including a children's beach and a park.
Seals began showing up in increasing numbers during the 1990s. In 1997, the city posted a warning that the pool shouldn't be used because it was contaminated with high levels of bacteria from seal waste. Still, some people continue to use it.
In 2004, a disgruntled swimmer filed suit, alleging that a seal sanctuary was not one of the permissible uses listed in the state trust. Paul Kennerson, an attorney for the swimmer, did not return a message Monday.
Almost $700K for recorded sounds of barking dogs. I can not begin to imagine how such recordings could cost so much, even if you were to be playing them through a sound system that would rival that of a music festivals set up. The sound system is the only thing I could think of that would warrant any significant amount of funding, but $700K????
Then you have to go through the whole process again, this time for the people who are annoyed by the sounds of dogs barking all the time. More court time and money wasted.
I may be missing something and I don't live out there, but come on... move down to another part of the beach and leave that part to the seals. Just leave nature alone as the beach is apparently only one of two where the seals give birth and nurse their young.
EDIT: I just realized you may have to subscibe to the news site, so here is the article.
San Diego will seek lifting of seal removal order
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- San Diego will ask a judge to lift an order giving the city 72 hours to scare a colony of harbor seals away from a La Jolla cove called the Children's Pool.
City Attorney Jan Goldsmith says the city will make the request on Thursday and will appeal if the judge refuses.
Activists have squared off for a decade in the courts over whether the cove should be for humans or seals. After a judge ruled Monday that the seals must go, officials said they'd spend up to $700,000 to scare them off with the recorded sounds of barking dogs.
Goldsmith says the city decided to get the order lifted after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a state bill late Monday giving San Diego power to allow the seal colony to remain.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A colony of federally protected harbor seals is causing a stink about whether it should spend its days lounging at a popular San Diego cove or be sent packing.
On Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that adds a marine mammal park to the list of acceptable uses for the sheltered cove where the seals have lived for years.
The potential reprieve came just hours after a San Diego judge ordered the city to begin chasing the pesky pinnipeds from the beach by Thursday - or risk hefty fines - to comply with a 2005 order to restore the cove to its original condition.
Gina Coburn, a spokeswoman for the city attorney's office, said city officials will hold a news conference Tuesday to announce their plans now that state law includes a provision for the seals at the site.
Environmentalists rejoiced at the news and had high hopes for the seals at Children's Pool, one of two beaches in Southern California where harbor seals give birth and nurse their young.
The bill means that the city, which had planned to spend $688,000 chasing away the seals, has legal grounds to ask the judge to change his order, said Bryan Pease, an attorney for several pro-seal groups.
"Now it's clear that under state law the seals can stay," he said. "This is really a game-changer. This is really the end of the road for the anti-seal forces."
Before Schwarzenegger's reprieve, the city said it planned to hire someone to walk the beach with a public address system broadcasting the sound of barking dogs to scare off the seals, said Andrew Jones, the assistant city attorney for civil litigation. Force cannot be used because the seals are a federally protected marine species.
The issue is so hotly contested that the city had planned to deploy two police officers to the site to prevent interference by pro-seal activists, he said.
"There's certainly a lot of emotions revolving around this issue. We expect that this person could be harassed, even physically attacked," Jones said after the judge's ruling.
The city has said in the past that if the bill was signed it would likely declare the small beach a seal sanctuary and the City Council approved a resolution several years ago favoring the pinnipeds, Jones said. The seals attract dozens of tourists each day who watch them as they doze in horizontal rows and paddle lazily about the shallow, sheltered cove.
"The seals need rest each day. If they don't get their rest, their health will be jeopardized and the local community will also suffer a huge economic cost," said Dorota Valli, who coordinates a pro-seal campaign for the Animal Protection and Rescue League. "It's an enormous tourist draw."
At the pool Monday, about two dozen seals lounged on the sand in a light marine fog, oblivious to the legal tussle over their fate.
One human observer wasn't impressed.
"I don't particularly like them. I think they smell, and I'm not interested in looking at them," said Kees Hendricks, 60, of Vancouver Island in Canada. "I don't think there should be a whole beach for the seals."
Children's Pool was created by a sea wall built in 1931 through a gift by La Jolla philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. The state, which owns the cove, subsequently placed the beach in a trust and listed several possible public uses for it, including a children's beach and a park.
Seals began showing up in increasing numbers during the 1990s. In 1997, the city posted a warning that the pool shouldn't be used because it was contaminated with high levels of bacteria from seal waste. Still, some people continue to use it.
In 2004, a disgruntled swimmer filed suit, alleging that a seal sanctuary was not one of the permissible uses listed in the state trust. Paul Kennerson, an attorney for the swimmer, did not return a message Monday.
