"As Walrus Arrive, Alaska Village Tells Visitors To Stay Away"

"ANCHORAGE — A remote village on Alaska's northwest coast has begun a reverse tourism campaign. Residents want visitors to stay away.

Pacific walrus by the thousands in recent years have come ashore in early fall near the Inupiat village of Point Lay, including about 6,000 last week, and people have dropped in, hoping to see a marine mammal phenomenon brought on by climate change and disappearing summer sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.

However, Point Lay, population 270, has no hotel or restaurants. And walrus to residents are a major food source, not a curiosity. Disturbances by boats or airplanes can spook walrus into stampedes that crush the smallest animals.

So Point Lay is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on an information campaign: Thanks for the interest, but please don't stop by."

Dan Joling reports for the Associated Press October 12, 2016.