May 11, 2020 By Larry Pynn Hakai Magazine
The ongoing recovery of the endangered Guadalupe fur seal is one of the feel-good nature stories of North America. Thought to have been driven extinct in the 1800s because of hunting for its fur, a remnant population survived. The species now numbers as many as 40,000—mainly off Baja Mexico and California. But jubilation over the recovery is tempered by the fact that fur seals are washing ashore dead or dying.