Three years ago, when groups of harbor seals began to lounge—and poop—on La Jolla’s Children’s Cove beach, the City Council considered ways to drive them away: remove most of the sand? float shark-fin buoys or blow-up orcas off shore? In 1999, the Council voted to yield the beach. A rope barrier was erected to protect seals and people from each other, and Friends of the Seal, a local nonprofit group, was formed to train volunteer docents.

Now Children’s Cove gets more than 80,000 visitors a month—”more than visit nearby Steven Birch Aquarium,” says the Friends’ Patrick Lee Ford. Docents are on the job weekends and some weekdays, to offer information and answer questions, such as “When do you feed them?” (Many are surprised at the answer.)

Unlike most harbor seals, these don’t seem to mind humans as close as 25 feet away, says Ford. Nine pups were born on the beach last year. This year, after a TV station reported a birth around Valentine’s Day, 9,000 people showed up in one day. “The future of our coast depends on this kind of direct experience,” says Ford.

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