Sea lions slowly returning to San Francisco by Zuzana Zelenakova

At the end of 2009 San Francisco began to lose one of its main attractions, a mascot we might say, sea lions. The famous colony of California sea lions vanishing from San Francisco has been a riddle to the experts. Later, the animals were spotted 500 miles north near the Oregon coast and scientists concluded the reason for their disappearance was a search for food during the winter. Still, they migrated in unusually high numbers. "My gut feeling is it has something to do with the (ocean warming) El Nino conditions off California, which is driving prey and sea lions up north," said Kim Raum-Suryan, a biologist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Pier 39, a mar! ketplace and arcade with a view of Alcatraz, has been a home to the sea lion colony for past thirty years, although no one knows why they chose this particular place. Growing in numbers rapidly until they reached about 1,700 animals they have always been most popular with tourists. Tourists find them cute and funny, however extremely smelly at the same time. "People are taking photos of the dock because it is so atypical," said public relations director from Pier 39 Sue Muzzin. "You don't realize how much you miss them 'til they're gone." So, sea lions moved from Pier 39 to Sea Lion Caves in Oregon, however, the change is only temporary as it seems. In recent weeks, numbers of sea lion in San Francisco Bay have climbed again. "They folded up their chaise lounges and put away their umbrella drinks," says Steve Saubert of Sea Lion Caves in Oregon. "They have decided that maybe vacation's over." And with the upcoming travel season in sight Sue Muzzin from Pier 39 hopes it is ! true as she would not like the visitors to be disappointed. !

related story (sgx16681): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_sc/us_sea_lions_de...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for SigEx Ventures (http://sigexventures.com)

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