After a video of two young women getting too close to sea lions at La Jolla Cove Beach went viral, the city of San Diego on Wednesday called people to keep a safe distance from the pinnipeds.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggests people stay at least 50 yards from seals and sea lions.
City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Chief Park Ranger Michael Ruiz said these are wild animals that can cause considerable damage.
"We haven't had incidents of sea lion harming any visitors," he said. "When a male is charging like that, that's what they do. They're just reminding you to stay away. What's more likely is a visitor is going to slip on a rock and hurt themselves trying to get away. That's why it's so important to stay a safe distance from the very beginning.”
It’s pupping season for sea lions right now, so the mothers may be more protective of their young.
That’s why Emma Brumm and her husband kept a safe distance. They were in town for their honeymoon.
“Just coming down here and seeing how close people get to them like that, just, I don't know, it makes me sad, but also kinda weary," she said. "People can get hurt from them.”
On Wednesday morning, several people got within a few feet of sea lion pups to snap a photo. One woman stepped over a sea lion resting on the stairs to get to the beach and encouraged her young son to do the same.
“So the male is agitated because all this is happening by his females and the pups,” said Carol Toye with the Sierra Club Seal Society.
Scenes like those are hard for the volunteer docents from the Sierra Club. Toye and her fellow volunteers try to educate beachgoers and keep them from harassing these marine mammals.
“This is a Wednesday," she said. "Tomorrow is a holiday. And the weekend. This whole beach is full of hundreds of people from all over the world. So getting the message out locally is good but more needs to be done.”
She wants the city to empower the lifeguards to rope off the area when people get too close so as not to distress the sea lions during pupping season, which runs from May through December.
Lifeguards said they do keep people away when they deem it is too dangerous for people to be too close to the marine mammals, but they cannot rope off the beach or portions of the beach unless directed by Parks and Rec or the city.
