Petition: He Laughed While He Kicked a Sea Lion Trying to Escape. Federal Law Says That’s a Crime.

La Jolla Cove in San Diego is one of Southern California’s best known sea lion habitats, and in July 2026 a video taken there spread widely for the worst reason. Footage appeared to show a man repeatedly kicking a California sea lion as the animal tried to get away from him, laughing while he did it. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria called it a disgusting act of animal cruelty and said he had directed local law enforcement to review the video. A federal investigation is now underway, because this is not simply a local matter: sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and that changes what is possible here. Please sign the petition demanding the person responsible is identified and charged.

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The legal position is stronger than most people realise, and it is worth knowing before the next person decides a wild animal is entertainment. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, harassment of a marine mammal can carry civil penalties of up to $36,498 per violation, and willful violations can bring criminal penalties including fines and up to a year in prison. Depending on the facts and whether the animal was injured, California’s own animal cruelty statutes could apply on top of that. PETA has called for criminal charges and for the person responsible to be barred from contact with animals, putting it plainly: assault is assault, no matter the species. The wider problem at La Jolla is not one man. It is the steady pressure of people getting too close to a wild colony for photographs, closing off the animals’ escape routes, and treating a protected species as a backdrop. NOAA asks anyone who witnesses a possible violation to report it immediately to the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement on (800) 853-1964, and notes that investigations work best when the report includes detail. One Green Planet has covered why animal abuse deserves to be treated as a violent crime, and the penalties in this case are set out by Newsweek.

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