Elephant Seals at Point Reyes National Park decided to take over a beach during the US Government Shutdown when the staff was a third of its regular size. Now the beach is closed down along with some access roads due to the new Elephant Seal pups that were born during the take over time.

The Park staff are ensuring the pups and mother seals are protected during a vulnerable stage of the population's life cycle in order to have a healthy class of pups for this year.

Park staff use non-invasive techniques to stop the Elephant Seals from taking over the beach when there is a full staff present; however, the shutdown forced the staff to be one third of its normal size leaving access to the beach for the Elephant Seals.

Now the park staff will wait until April for the pups to wean off their mothers and head to the ocean to forage for themselves before the beach opens up to the public.

Listen to the episode for more details.

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