A large number of elephant seal weaned pups that have settled in a cove at Drakes Beach prompted a temporary closure of the beach area, park service officials said on Friday.
More than 50 weanlings and five subadult and adult male elephant seals have made their way onto the cove, “making it difficult for visitors to get around them safely,” officials with the Point Reyes National Park Service said in an alert.
Park service officials closed the beach to “minimize the possibility of unsafe interactions” between people and the seals on the beach, officials said. Visitors to the area can still watch the seals from the sidewalk from the edge of the nearby parking lot, officials said.
In a photo shared on Twitter by the National Park Service, the elephant seals were stretched out on their sides on the beach, with many lounging close to each other.
Since the winter of 2018, male elephant seals have been returning to the beach near the visitor center in early December and pregnant female elephant seals have returned to the beach in late January to give birth to their pups, according to a Point Reyes National Seashore webpage on elephant seals. Park service officials have regularly closed Drakes Beach to protect the marine mammals.
Drakes Beach is closed in front of the Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center “to where it reaches the seasonal closure west of the main beach area at the cove's edge,” park service officials said.
The beach will be closed “until further notice,” officials said.
No approximate date of reopening was immediately released.
Lauren Hernández (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
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March 12, 2022 at 09:36AM
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Elephant seal pups prompt temporary closure of Drakes Beach - San Francisco Chronicle
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