Sea Lion Killer on the Loose

Steller Sea Lion at Marrowstone Island WA courtesy of Flickr Contributor Bob Whitney

This weekend, the carcasses of six sea lions were found shot to death in traps on the Columbia River. Now investigators from local law enforcement and Oregon and Washington's Departments of Fisheries are looking for the sea lions' executioner.

The bodies were found in recently set traps at the base of the Bonneville Dam, where sea lions have been a known nuisance to Chinook salmon and other fish. Four of the killed seals were California Sea Lions and two were Steller Sea Lions. Both species are protected via the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but the Steller Sea Lion is also an endangered species. According to the investigators, the sea lions were shot sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning on the Washington side of the Columbia. Whomever carried out the killings did so by boat and were familiar with the non-lethal traps that had been set. So far investigators have no clear leads, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the culprit wasn’t one of the fed-up local fishermen, sick of losing salmon to the gluttonous sea lions. It's a local battle that's been going on time immemorial.