The National Park Service is seeking information on a pair of visitors, including a photographer, who were recently caught on camera throwing rocks at resting seals at Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California.
“On December 6, 2025, at approximately 3:40 p.m., video footage from the Chimney Rock livestream at Point Reyes National Seashore shows two individuals throwing rocks toward an elephant seal resting on the beach,” Point Reyes NPS posted on Instagram.
The National Park Service adds that the female subject is an adult who was observed throwing “multiple rocks,” several of which struck the nearby seal. The second subject, a male armed with a “large black DSLR-style camera,” was also seen throwing rocks at the seal.
”The footage shows deliberate throwing actions by both individuals, with multiple rocks striking the elephant seal,” Point Reyes NPS continues.
The video was captured by a live streaming camera set up at Chimney Rock in the Point Reyes National Seashore, but the NPS was alerted to the event from a person who viewed the live stream from Japan, KRON 4 reports.
The elephant seal breeding season starts in December, and seasonal beach closures went into effect on December 15, less than two weeks after the rock-throwing incident was caught on camera. During seasonal beach closures, designed to protect elephant seals and their pups, visitors are strictly forbidden from closed areas.
Unsurprisingly, people are also strictly prohibited from throwing rocks at elephant seals, no matter what time of year it is. Elephant seals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other National Park Service regulations. It is a heinous act to throw rocks at any wildlife, and authorities are seeking the public’s help in identifying the two individuals caught on camera. Anyone with information about the people in the video is encouraged to contact the National Park Service tip line at 888-653-0009.
While the woman was throwing rocks at the seal, the man, who was also throwing rocks, was seen holding his camera to take photos of the elephant seal. Not only do these actions violate the law, but they also run afoul of basic wildlife photography ethics.
This is just the latest unfortunate news about photographers harming nature in pursuit of better photos. Just last week, PetaPixel reported that wildlife photographers have been accused of destroying the habitat of rare frogs in India while trying to photograph them. The group of affected frogs has vanished from the area as a result of the careless wildlife photographers.
Image credits: National Park Service