Fighting for our Oceans...

September 1st was International Save Japan Dolphins Day. Congrats to everyone who participated from those of you on the shores of Taiji to those of you who wore your memorabilia and spread the word locally. Everything counts. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this year the cove will not bleed red with the blood of our friends. So far there has not been a lot of action going on in the cove, so lets hope it stays like this throughout the slaughter season.


California Coastal Clean up Day is approaching fast! September 17th, 2011 from 9am to noon, volunteers from around California will be cleaning up thousands of pounds of trash from our water shed systems. Last year alone in San Diego, 8,800 volunteers came together and removed 200,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from over 165 miles of shorelines. It makes a difference. This huge event is once a year (although other clean up days are bimonthly if your interested). Not only is CCD (Coastal Clean Up Day) a fun and rewarding event, but it also reminds other people who see us volunteers that every little piece of trash makes a difference. If you are interested in volunteering please refer HERE. I hope to see you all there!

Dear La Jolla Planning Commission...

Dear La Jolla Planning Commission,

I can remember as a young child traveling hours to La Jolla sea shores to visit "Children's Pool", or as I liked to call it, "Seal Beach". Since the protection rope has been in place, the seals have continued to come year after year to this cove providing me, and about 100,000 other visitors a month an incredible close up experience with nature. Now, as a San Diego resident, I ask and plead that you reestablish the protection rope at Children's Pool to limit the barbaric actions that people have been partaking in.

This small, 200 foot long beach is the only mainland breeding ground for hundreds of miles in all directions. San Diego has over 70 miles of public beaches, making Children's pool only account for about 25% of ONE of those SEVENTY miles. Since the Harbor Seals are semi aquatic, they need stable grounds to rest on. Since the rope has been removed from the seals protection, La Jolla has become a place I loathe to visit. 

Barking dogs sent to attack the seals, men teaching their children how to chase the seals into and past the cove, abandoned babies, and some even prematurely deceased seals were the scenes that greeted me on my most recent visit in November 2010 to this beach. Anti seal activists line the beach and sidewalks jeering and jesting at any chance they get while the seal activists painfully witness these poor creatures being mistreated. They are calling it a battle between the "children versus the seals" but honestly, give me a break. I do not know a child that would want to see these seals sent away. Children's Pool is one of the only place that seals can be seen and admired in their natural environment. With all the rocks and swift tides created by the viewing wall, this is not even a safe beach to take children swimming in, so why not let it be? 

I am simply asking that the protection rope be instilled year round. We need to learn to respect nature, and teach our children the same. If it is about money, as most things are, think of all the revenue La Jolla will loose if these seals no longer pup at Children's Pool? Seeing the seals has been the ONLY reason why I have even gone to La Jolla over the past twenty years. I promise you that I will not spend a dime within the city limits, nor will I bring my family, until this issue has properly been resolved. 

Respectfully,

Danielle Taylor

(This letter has been sent in to the City of La Jolla, and I will continue to send it in until I get a reply...11/16/2010)


For more information on this please visit Save La Jolla Seals. 

If ignorance is bliss, than he must be elated!