Help Protect Our Ocean Friends
Let's preserve the beauty and wonder of the Carpinteria Harbor Seal Sanctuary
Help Protect Our Ocean Friends
Let's preserve the beauty and wonder of the Carpinteria Harbor Seal Sanctuary
About Save Carp Seals
Listen!
Can you hear the seals of Carpinteria calling to us. Their message is a plea for help, to those who can hear it. They ask only for a small swath of beach, and to be left alone, undisturbed by humans and dogs. We believe we have a moral obligation to heed this call, and to thereby save one of Carpinteria’s iconic natural treasures, our Harbor Seal Rookery, one of the last on the West Coast.
The Carpinteria Harbor Seal Rookery
For over 100 years, there has been an established harbor seal rookery in Carpinteria. Over the past few years, however, the Carpinteria rookery is experiencing dramatic declines in the number of seals, and if nothing is done, our rookery will follow the path of others that have vanished from California.
Harbor Seal Facts
Beach Time
Beach Time
Beach Time
· Harbor seals are very dependent on spending 50% of their time on the beach.
· This beach-time is REQUIRED YEAR-ROUND for daily thermoregulation, digesting food, sleeping and other physiological processes such as preparation for diving.
Pupping
Beach Time
Beach Time
· The time on land is also required for seasonal processes, such as mating, giving birth, summer molting, and generating milk to feed their young.
· To assist with this beach-time, the rookery is presently closed to the public from December 1 to May 31 to protect seals during pupping season.
Dangers
Beach Time
Dangers
· Science and first-hand observation support the fact that humans and dogs are the major cause of harbor seal disturbances.
· These disturbances trigger stress hormones, leading to long term degradation of the seals’ health and survival rates of both pups and adults.
What you can do!
Avoid the area within the yellow dashed line!
1. First and foremost, do not walk, run, or ride your bike on the beach near the rookery at any time of the year. It interrupts vital sleep and other biological functions.
2. If photographing the seals from the overlook, avoid getting their attention. When they are watching you, they are actually feeling threatened.