They're Gone!

Anyone who's been to San Francisco in the last 20 years has likely been to the tourist extravaganza called Fisherman's Wharf. And if you've been to Fisherman's Wharf, you've seen the sea lions that camp out on Pier 39.

I lived in SF for a couple years early in my consulting career, just up the street from Pier 39 in fact. The seals weren't in residence when I was there, they showed up just after I moved back to Chicago in 1988. No one knew why the sea lions felt the need to take over the docks that used to provide water access to private boats, but since this was California, the city decided that making a safe environment for the sea lions was more important than making a pleasant waterfront for the humans in the area.

And so the loud, smelly and dirty sea lion colony / "attraction" was born. OK, so I'm not a lover of sea lions. Aside from being marginally entertaining to watch for the odd 3 or 4 minutes when you have nothing else to do, I'm not sure what value they add.

Anyway, it seems that the sea lions have left. Yep, just up and wandered off right after Thanksgiving. Been there for 20 years and then just decide out of the blue to be on their way. You really can't trust sea lions.

via Wired

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