SAN DIEGO -- Oblivious to the 15-year legal and political fight their presence has caused, harbor seals loll in the water off the Children's Pool in La Jolla.
They come ashore to sun themselves, bark their distinctive barks and, during pupping season, give birth to adorable little bundles on the beach.
But they also poop, on the sand and in the water, extensively. And that is the focus of the war between seal-lovers and people-firsters over a sheltered cove that is the legacy of one of San Diego's revered philanthropists.
The City Council, stuck in the middle after years of not satisfying either side, tried in 2004 to fashion a "joint use" plan in which seals and people could coexist on the tiny beach.
The beach would be dredged to increase tidal flushing and take away the excrement. Barriers would keep people away from the seals during pupping season. The beach would be smaller but cleaner and both sides could declare victory, the council reasoned.
But now a state appeals court has upheld a trial court's decision that the council should put a priority on constantly cleaning the sand and water to allow human use -- even if that means driving the seals into the ocean, where hungry sharks await.
The 3-0 decision had no sooner been issued Sept. 7 when City Atty. Michael Aguirre vowed to ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court. That appears to be a long shot for several reasons, including the city attorney's mixed record when issues leave the political arena and enter a courtroom.
Calls last week to inquire how Aguirre plans to pull a seal from a legal hat went unanswered. He was busy late in the week feuding with Mayor Jerry Sanders over the latter's assertion that Aguirre had bungled a key pension-fund case.
As for the seals, the high court hears only about 5% of cases sent to it. Observers say the justices prefer cases of statewide significance, or in which the lower courts were split or the intellectual arguments are legally challenging. None of those criteria would seem to fit the case of Valerie O'Sullivan vs. the City of San Diego.
O'Sullivan, a swimmer, sued because she felt the beach and water should be safe and clean for children and adults and that joint use would not work.
Her lawyers argued that the council was violating a 1931 action by the state Legislature deeding to the city the submerged lands known as the Children's Pool. The legislative action spoke of people using the beach and made no reference to seals or other marine mammals.
