Kicker: Sealed beaches

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Not everyone was unhappy about the partial government shutdown. Some Californians seemed to love it!

AUDIO: [Seal sounds]

A colony of elephant seals took over a beach in Northern California during the shutdown. With no staff to discourage them, it looked like a fine place to give birth to 35 pups.

They did just that on a beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. They even knocked down a fence and moved into the parking lot.

Officials have no plans to move the animals while some of them nurse their pups.

Staff is now thinking of guided tours of the elephant colony.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(John Burgess/The Press Democrat via AP) In this photo taken Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, without tourists and park rangers to discourage them during the government shutdown, elephant seals have expanded their pupping grounds in Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. 

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