What prompted harbor seals to gather at Childrens Pool beach?
Officially, it’s a mystery. “We still don’t know why,” said Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Long Beach. The seals have been seen around Children’s Pool for decades. In the mid-1990s, the number at the cove began to increase from a few dozen to a few hundred. Perhaps the seals found it inviting because the crescent-shaped sea wall built there in the 1930s offers protection from the waves. Children’s Pool has characteristics that harbor seals find appealing at other rookeries in the Channel Islands, said Pam Yochem, a biologist and wildlife veterinarian with the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego. For example, the area includes a broad, sandy beach that is accessible at all tides. Nearby feeding grounds are abundant with fish. Harbor seals “haul out” – exit the water to rest – on a variety of terrains, including sandy beaches, mud flats and offshore rocks and pinnacles, Yochem said. Are there other mainland sites where harbor se
