{"id":411793,"date":"2026-07-25T07:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/411793\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T07:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:56:12","slug":"sea-lion-kicking-video-reignites-calls-for-more-protection-at-la-jolla-cove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/411793\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea lion kicking video reignites calls for more protection at La Jolla Cove"},"content":{"rendered":"

A video appearing to show a sea lion being kicked near Point La Jolla has sparked outrage and renewed questions about nighttime protections.<\/p>\n

SAN DIEGO \u2014 A video circulating on social media appears to show a sea lion being kicked near Point La Jolla, reigniting concerns about protections for the federally protected animals.<\/p>\n

CBS 8 is not showing the video in its entirety and is not naming the person seen in it. The video’s authenticity and the exact time it was recorded have not been independently confirmed.<\/p>\n


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The incident appears to have happened at night near Point La Jolla, an area the city permanently closed to people in 2023 specifically to protect sea lions. Part of the nearby stairs at La Jolla Cove has also been closed off where pups are present, and some pups in the area are currently visibly malnourished.<\/p>\n

The Sierra Club’s Seal Society<\/a> estimates 10 sea lion pup deaths at La Jolla Cove this year alone. Advocates link the deaths to mothers abandoning pups after being scared off by human interference.<\/p>\n

“This was an intentional and repeated assault on the sea lion, which is a protected species by the Marine Mammal Protection Act<\/a>,” said Robyn Davidoff, chair of the Sierra Club’s Seal Society. “We have reported it to NOAA, and they have responded back that they have referred it to their Office of Law Enforcement.”<\/p>\n

Harassing a sea lion is a federal crime under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, punishable by civil penalties of up to roughly $36,000 and up to a year in prison.<\/p>\n

NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement confirmed it is investigating. The agency said it has only four enforcement officers covering the entire state of California, relying on partnerships with local park rangers and California Fish and Wildlife for enforcement presence at the Cove.<\/p>\n

San Diego park rangers say they cannot issue citations for harassing a sea lion. They can only document a violation and forward it to NOAA.<\/p>\n

“There are rangers here, and then we are also here, but we’re just volunteers, so we can’t be here at all times, and we can’t really enforce anything like that,” said Ashley Hurwitz, a Seal Society volunteer.<\/p>\n

Davidoff said she is not calling for La Jolla Cove to be closed. Instead, she wants cones and tape marking safe viewing distance, and rangers stationed on the beach rather than making announcements from above.<\/p>\n

San Diego Parks and Recreation says budget constraints are the reason it cannot staff night patrols. Closing the Cove entirely would require action from the San Diego City Council and the California Coastal Commission.<\/p>\n

Anyone who witnesses a potential violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act is asked to call NOAA’s enforcement hotline at (800) 853-1964.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A video appearing to show a sea lion being kicked near Point La Jolla has sparked outrage and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-411793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}