BONNEVILLE, Ore. —
Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife says it has killed its first fish-eating California sea lion this year after capturing it at Bonneville Dam.

Department spokeswoman Jessica Sall says the animal killed Wednesday was one of 64 on a list of sea lions eligible to be euthanized after repeatedly eating Columbia River salmon. She tells The Oregonian that the animal has been seen at the dam for the past seven years.

Last year, 11 sea lions were killed after repeatedly eating fish near the dam and four others sent to a zoo or aquarium. Sall says no zoos or aquariums have agreed to take sea lions this year.

The Columbia has multiple runs of endangered and threatened wild salmon and steelhead. Critics say the sea ...... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011259379_aporsealionssalmon.html

1 down, 63 to go.

+63

JD

1/64000th

Video

http://www.kptv.com/video/22747621/index.html


Protesters Rally Against Sea Lion Euthanasia

http://www.kptv.com/news/22746689/detail.html

SAVE THE SEA KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!

finally the BPA is showing some balls!!!

blast them all to kingdom come!

Now throw the bastard back in the river with a rope attached so it flops in the current. Add another 5 or 6 hung out the same way, and I'll bet the sea lions find another lunch bar.

Good idea, let him swing for the other pigs to see.
Let's hope that the "protesters" will not be able to stop what needs to happen.

A co worker asked me today what I thought about the sea lion who was "euthanized."

I replied something like, "I think it is sad to have come to this point but I think it is the best decision in this instance."

It was a great opportunity to outline how far we have wandered and how it has come to humans sorting out predators and prey. She found it useful to trace the saga of the bottling effects of the dams, the loss of habitat and nutrients, the lss of redds, the smolt and the birds, the nets, the nets, and how now we find ourselves having to take responsibility for the natural proclivities of the sea lions to be opportunistic predators. A non fisher followed the story.

An interesting tidbit: It is possible to see this whole spawn-return cycle in terms of preservation of elemental calcium. The rivers have little of it without the fish. Dead fish release it, growing fish need it, buggies transform it from dead fish to growing fish. A viewpoint based entirely around habitat preservation and access to habitat, goes a long way.

Now if I can just figure out how to transform that into a policy statement...

great idea!!! lets tie a couple protesters on a rope too... well not dead so much. just roughed up real good!

Your right we created the mess Doc Ric but were out of choices.



http://www.cyberwest.com/cw21/idaho_wolf_pack.shtml

Yes. Still makes me sad. We do what we must.

Freaks yes but they are very out numbered. Read the comments from the protester link. Out numbered about 1000:1. It's called freedom of speech. They have just as much right as you do. Let the Boy Gorge types pound on there tom toms all they want.

All my sadness dissipates when I see one of those interlopers ripping the belly out of an 80 year old sturgeon that was trying to spawn.

native Californian sea lions

May He Rest in Pieces.

Man changes the balance of nature. The Marine Mammal Protection Act has been a lot more successful in restoring seals and sea lions than has the ESA in restoring salmon and steelhead. In a way, I think we're fortunate in having restored sea lions to the point where we now have to provide some control on the population. Not so fortunate however in having depleted their forage base so low, or for building walls on rivers that unnaturally herd prey into small spaces, making them more vulnerable than they otherwise would be.

Sg

+1