The city of San Diego continues to struggle to find the right balance between keeping a historic beach open to the public and protecting the wildlife on its shores.
La Jolla Cove, which attracted 2.3 million visitors in 2024 and was recently voted the best beach in the United States by Tripadvisor, is known for the sea lions that sunbathe on its shores and the permeating smell from the waste they produce. But the interaction of humans and animals on the sands has also become a problem.
Fifty percent of the pups born this season have died, Robyn Davidoff, chair of the Sierra Club Seal Society, told SFGATE. In comparison, only 10% of pups have died in the area not open to human interaction…