San Diego plans to clear beach of seals using recorded dog barks

The Californian city of San Diego has been given 72 hours to remove harbour seals from a small beach area originally designated for children.

They were ordered by a judge to comply with an earlier order to clean up the Children's Pool at La Jolla beach.

But lawyers for seal activists are planning to file a motion to block the move in what has been a decades-long battle over the issue. The city plans to use the sound of barking dogs to scare off the seals. They cannot use force because the seals are a federally-protected marine species.



"We can't harm the seals in any way. Any method we use basically has to be benign," said Andrew Jones, assistant attorney for civil litigation.

He said the city planned to pay someone to walk along the beach with a public address system broadcasting the sounds of dogs - backed up by two police officers in case of trouble.

"There's certainly a lot of emotions revolving around this issue," he said. "We expect that this person could be harassed, even physically attacked".