The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is responding to the discovery of a dead seal on the morning of October 27.  This second death also appears to be willful. There may be a person (or persons) intent upon causing harm to seals and whoever it may be needs to be apprehended and dealt with by the law.  The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is receiving many reports about harassment of seals at La Jolla. We cannot verify these reports. What we can do is to post the $5,000 reward as a deterrent against any harassment.  There is clearly an element in La Jolla that harbor resentment for the seals.

"The real tragedy", says Captain Paul Watson, President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, "is that some politicians have succeeded in whipping up hysteria in La Jolla over seals by suggesting that seals should be removed from the beach. We don't need to clean the beaches of seals but we do need to clean the beaches of seal harassers, seal killers and seal-hating politicians."

Further details of the Sea Shepherd reward program can be found on the Sea Shepherd website at www.seashepherd.org.