HUNTINGTON BEACH : Mix-Up on Carcasses Is Blamed on Error

A dispute continues over the recent disposal of two dead seals that washed up earlier this month on Bolsa Chica State Beach.

In a city report released Monday, officials said they had to bury the seals because someone in the State Park System had told them that the state could not afford to do the job.

But on Tuesday, state parks District Supt. Jack Roggenbuck said that a still-unidentified employee in the state system simply gave the city the wrong information.

“We’re poor, but not that poor,” said Roggenbuck. “We can handle disposals of dead animals. Something like that is a high priority with us.”

The issue of the two dead seals sparked a heated discussion at the April 6 City Council meeting. Several residents angrily told the council that the seals had remained for days on a stretch of city beach north of Golden West Street.

City officials investigated the complaints. In their report released Monday, they said the seals were discovered on a state beach instead of a city-owned stretch of strand. The officials reported that they had contacted the state parks office only to be told that “the state has no equipment to remove the seals.” As a result, the seals were buried with city equipment.

Roggenbuck on Tuesday said the employee had misinformed the city.

“There was a problem of communication,” Roggenbuck said. “We do have equipment to dispose of dead animals, and we certainly would have disposed of those dead seals. I don’t know how the incorrect information got out. It may have been a seasonal employee who is not aware of what we (in the State Park System) do.”

Roggenbuck stressed that the State Park System works to keep all state beaches clean. “In the case of these two dead seals, what I think may have happened is that they were where the boundary area on the sand (between city and state beaches) is not really clear,” he said. He added that ordinarily, dead animals are promptly removed from state beaches.

Residents can call either the State Park System office at (714) 536-1454 or the district office at (714) 848-1566 to alert officials to problems on the state beach.