Alaska Discourages Tourism During Mass Walrus Visit

In the Alaskan village Inupiat, thousands of walrus visit in early fall, with last week's numbers as high as 6,000. While many cities would welcome this opportunity to increase tourism, the citizens of Point Lay is doing the exact opposite.

With a population of only 270, Point Lay has no hotel or restaurants, and walrus, for them, are a major food source - they are not a curiosity for tourists to ogle from. Besides, these animals are easily spooked, so disturbances by boats or planes could cause them to stampede and crush smaller animals. Because of this, Point Lay is working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to raise an information campaign: Thanks for the Interest, but Please don't Stop By."

Andrea Medeiros, a spokeswoman for the agency in Anchorage shared, "They've had people come and had no place to accommodate them and they ended up having to tell the person to get back on the plane and head out." She also added that the situation could possibly be awkward for everyone involved.

Besides, as CBS News pointed out, the walrus can't even be seen from the village, and tourists will have to travel in a hazardous trek to a cove to see them.

The walrus started visiting the northwest Alaskan coast only in 2007, but they did so in mass numbers. Despite being fascinating, their appearance north is actually something to worry about: due to the melting of the sea ice, the edge has receded far into the north and walrus have to choose between resting on ice over deep waters, or moving to shore to join thousands of other animals.

Lay Point, on the other hand, is built on a ground that's already melting, posing a danger to the people living in it. Today, the community only has enough water for residents to last a year, which hopefully gives them ample time to find a new water source.