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Journalism of Courage
Tourists are often criticised for being invasive towards local wildlife and sometimes they get a taste of their own medicine when the animals charge back at them. Something similar was seen at a San Diego beach in US’s California.
Two sea lions chased away a group of beachgoers on San Diego’s La Jolla cove beach, which is often populated by these animals. Luckily nobody was harmed but, the video of the chase has gone viral on social media.
The video was first posted on TikTok by a user name Charli (@favortown) last Friday. Since then, the 10-second clip is being widely circulated on social media.
According to the Dolphin Research Center, rocky beaches in southern California such as La Jolla cove are used by sea lions to give birth during the months of May to July. During this time, sea lions are especially defensive of their territory.
https://twitter.com/KathleenBlueDot/status/1546292125712662529
https://twitter.com/LIN49003901/status/1546290616375468032
As the video went viral, many people used #TeamSeaLion and asserted that beaches that are used by marine life like seals and sea lions should be off-limits for tourists, given that there are other beaches in the area. Several San Diego locals on Twitter highlighted many tourists purposely go near sea loins to get pictures.
“Been to this beach and out on the walkway over the water many times as I grew up in San Diego. This has been the sea lion’s beach since the 60’s. I’ve never seen so many people on it. The stairs are new. It’s their habitat and the people are encroaching. Run squatters run!” wrote a Twitter user.
