Terrorizing Seal Lion

I am traumatized by the constant yelling of the sea lion Fernandez,” says 80-year-old mrs. Nevenzeel who lives besides Artis, the Amsterdam zoo. “I am jewish by birth and now I have to hide again. I don’t open my windows and doors anymore.”  Nevenzeel contacted the State Council to change the policy of the zoo.

It was a beautiful Summer in 2010 at the Entrepotdok in Amsterdam. “It was warm that Summer,” said Nevenzeel, “but I couldn’t open my doors and windows.” Everytime Nevenzeel and het 84-year-old husband wanted to enjoy the sun the were rudely disturbed by the constant yelling of the sea lion Fernandez. The male sea lion, which was transferred from the zoo of Berlin to Artis, made the irritating noise because he wanted to court the females. “He yelled the whole day. We got totally insane. We contacted Artis but this didn’t solve anything. This was their natural habit, they said, and it was the goal of Artis to keep everything as natural as possible.”

Fernandez gone

Because of this problem, Fernandez was transferred to a zoo in Tenerife in March 2013. But the fear in the house of the Nevenzeels remained. “We have consulted our legal expenses insurance. We are so afraid that soon a new male sea lion will arrive, confining us to inside the house,” says mrs. Nevenzeel softly. “Last Monday we could come to the State Council. There were also people from Artis, the municipal office and police officers.”

“I had written a letter and read that out loud,” added the husband.

The couple would like to see that some means are devised which will reduce the noise. “Somebody mentioned a noise barrier. But that might also take years.” Mr. Nevenzeel thinks that removing sea lions from the zoo is also an option!