SAN DIEGO, CA – La Jolla Cove is known for its stunning views, high-end shopping, and foul smells from the local wildlife. Lately, the pungent odor from accumulated bird and sea lion waste has grown so strong that it is completely overpowering the stench of the Tijuana River sewage runoff.
Tourists, who have been arriving in San Diego hoping to take in the sights and smells of the continuous flow of untreated sewage, industrial chemicals, and trash from Tijuana, Mexico into San Diego’s beaches, are disappointed to have their experience interrupted by the overwhelming smell of sea lion and bird poop, instead of Tijuana poop.
“We booked this trip specifically for the authentic, cross-border aromas,” said Doris Templeton, a waste tourism enthusiast from Des Moines. “But when we got to the cove, it just smelled like a walrus corpse left in a tanning bed. It’s disappointing.”
The City had previously tried spraying a special bacterial solution on the cliffs to control wildlife odors, but treatments were paused in 2023 over concerns about runoff. The Water Quality Control Board has since requested further study to ensure that any runoff on San Diego shores remains strictly Mexican in origin.
“We’re committed to maintaining the purity of our pollution,” a Board spokesperson clarified. “If it didn’t cross a border, we don’t want it.”
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