The blubbery sea lions at Pier 39, one of San Francisco’s smelliest and most famous tourist attractions, are gone. During the last week of November, they left the wooden docks on which they’ve spent the last 20 years and no one knows if they’ll be coming back.
“We have no idea where they moved on to or why,” said Shelbi Stoudt, who manages a team that helps stranded animals in the San Francisco Bay from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California.
The sea lions’ disappearance is as strange as their initial colonization of the pier about 20 years ago, in late 1989. They just started showing up one day and as their numbers increased, their traditional hang out, Seal Rocks, became less populated. There are all sorts of theories about why the pier became a favorite haul-out spot for the sea lions, but no one knows for sure why the animals’ behavior changed.
Stoudt averred that the officials at the Marine Mammal Center weren’t worried about the animals’ disappearance from their standard location. The sea lions are migratory animals, after all, and it’s natural for them to move around.
So, even though no one has found them, “there really isn’t a reason to be looking for them,” Stoudt said.
Ms. Stoudt is messing up, big time. If she plays her cards right, she’ll get $500K in stimulus money to find the seals that aren’t lost…
Does anyone remember Pogs, member only jackets, or troll dolls?
earthquake?
isiah – Are you off your meds again? Please explain what those items have to do with sea lions…
Even the seals have had enough of the shit that goes as normal in the SF Bay area
I’ll bet whore Al Gore and his merry band of “trusty” (LOL!) “scientists” (ROFL!) have some ideas.
Seals, Sea Lions, or Seal Lions…you be the judge.
I watched a news report where they said that the large number of sea lions this year was interfering with boaters in the harbor, I’m sure with the holidays coming up, the city decided on a, shall we say, ultimate solution to the problem. No doubt the sea lions are sleeping with the fishes somewhere, or else perhaps the local tuna company’s going to have a little less dolphin and a little less sea turtle, but whole heckuva lot more sea lion in their “tuna” this year.
Sea lions not seal lions. Corrected! Thanks Gary.
Sushi? 🙁
If we get a message “So long, and thanks for all the fish” from them, let me know.
Only one thing I can think of that could make them leave right now. It’s a long swim from SF to the babbq.
I was just at the Monterey aquarium yesterday, Pier 30 today, and both have said that tagged sea lions have been tracked south of Monterey, swimming off-shore. They assume there must be a worthy food source there, hence why everyone’s at the underwater BBQ.
For what it’s worth here’s my shot of the empty pier
And the one guy who didn’t get the memo
He must be the designated diver.
I saw this last night too! Kinda freaked me out. Wondering if they sense a tsunami or an earthquake coming to the Cali coast. Animals have strange senses about that stuff…
They came one day, stayed for a while, then went away. Sounds like a fad to me.
awww….JD stole my thunder. I agree with JD though, “So long and thanks for all the fish!”