Elephant seals in SLO County: How nonprofit helped write a ‘conservation success story’

A San Luis Obispo County nonprofit organization is getting attention for its efforts to protect elephant seals.

A recent article in Smithsonian magazine praised Friends of the Elephant Seal for its work protecting the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas rookery north of San Simeon and educating the public “in hopes humans and the marine mammals can coexist peacefully.”

“By nearly all accounts, the nonprofit has succeeded,” Smithsonian daily correspondent Sarah Kuta writes in the Oct. 3 article. “Elephant seals are not only a conservation success story, having come back from the brink of near-extinction. But, along this rugged stretch of coastline in Central California, they’re also a rare example of humans coming together to put wild animals first.”

Typically, when wildlife crosses people’s paths, the wildlife loses out, often catastrophically.

In this case, state and local agencies and passionate local residents came together to make Piedras Blancas a safe place for both people and animals.

The site in northern San Luis Obispo County has become a tourist attraction and an informal education center for ocean science.

By training and managing volunteer docents, Friends of the Elephant Seal plays a significant role in keeping seals and visitors safe from each other.

At Piedras Blancas, that’s made simpler by the landscape of bluffs overlooking the beach. The boardwalks keep visitors safe while providing unlimited viewing.

During the breeding season, it’s more complicated.

Subdominant bulls, chased off the breeding beaches, come to San Simeon Cove to heal their wounds.

Friends of the Elephant Seal has a special program to help visitors there navigate around the bulls.

It can be a delicate dance, but with FES guides providing informal education about these amazing animals, both sides can safely coexist.

Young elephant seals at SLO County beach

More elephant seals arrive at Piedras daily in October for the fall haul-out. They are all on their way to maturity.

Every young seal that finds its way to the beach is a survival success story.

Each one of these marine mammals has so far conquered the challenges of learning to hunt food in the dark, cold ocean at 1,000 feet and deeper.

The seals have also evaded predators, swimming back to the surface only briefly to catch a two-minute breath and then dive down again.

The most dangerous part of that journey is traveling though the range of white sharks and orcas.

The seals on the beach in October range in age from less than a year old to about 6 years old.

The older males show signs of developing the trunk-like noses that give elephant seals their name, known as proboscises.

The seals are adjusting their migratory schedule.

As they mature, they will return to the beach in December and January for the breeding season. As juveniles, they avoid the hectic threats of that season by hauling out in the autumn months.

SLO County nonprofit offers Speakers Bureau

For folks who are interested in learning more about elephant seals, Friends of the Elephant Seal offers presentations to local organizations in SLO County.

Trained speakers have given presentations to more than 100 clubs and organizations in recent years.

Speakers travel with all the audio and visual equipment needed to give their presentations to any age group or audience size.

The Speakers Bureau has slide and video presentations introducing the Piedras Blancas rookery as well as each of the seasons in the seals’ annual cycle.

The Birthing and Breeding presentations are appropriate now, since that season begins in December.

Speakers Bureau presentations are appropriate for civic clubs, schools, libraries, associations, churches, charitable organizations and other common interest groups. There is no charge to the group for this educational service.

To arrange a speaker, call the FES office at 805-924-1628 or request a speaker through the website, elephantseal.org/speakers-bureau.

The Speaker’s Bureau Coordinator will respond and set up a date.