Readership may include bay sea lions

Thanks to the Daily Pilot, I have learned some amazing things about

sea lions.

Sea lions can read, and like other social mammals, they are

subject to political pressure.

Several months ago when the Pilot printed an article in which

people demanded that the barge be moved, the next day, I noticed as I

kayaked by, that all the sea lions had disappeared, not only from the

barge but from the back of other boats. They stayed out of the bay

for several weeks, but as the publicity died down they returned in

mass, though not on the barge which had been closed. I counted four

on one boat.

On Sept. 16, the Pilot printed an article reporting the city

harbor commission’s proposals to rid the bay of the noisy neighbors.

That morning, I could not find a single sea lion in the bay. Clearly,

they had read the Pilot.

Even though sea lions long precede people in the bay, it is clear

that the City Council, under the power of eminent domain confirmed by

the Supreme Court recently, has the right to take the bay away from

the sea lions. After all, who pays the most in taxes?

ERNEST KLATTE

Costa Mesa