I was walking along the beach a few days ago when I saw these pakake, or new zealand sea lions. They were very peacefully resting above the tide-line getting their Zs in and cuddling.
Their peace was very nice to see because these are taoka species and endangered after being hunted almost to extinction on the mainland. Pakeke have only started pupping on the mainland in the past 40 years, and so it’s extremely important to protect them.
Now for the less great part
Their peace was, unfortunately, disturbed by a person and her off-leash dog. There were signs up saying to leash your dog for a specific part of the beach, not even the whole beach, because there were pakeke resting in that area. When I shouted to her that there were sealions, and that her dog was actively harassing them, she waved her hand vaguely at her dog until it eventually came away. I realised she didnt even have a lead, and she just left her dog’s poop on the beach to go into the ocean.
Actually infuriating that some people just refuse to leash dogs their when they should, no matter what people say or do.
The world does not belong to you, and your dog comes second to the environment and other wildlife, get it through your head.
