Six salmon-eating sea lions captured on the Columbia River in the U.S. Northwest were shot and killed over the weekend near the Bonneville Dam by an unknown assailant. A few weeks ago, the federal government itself announced it would allow wildlife officials in Oregon and Washington to kill up to 85 sea lions a year in the Bonneville area since they were eating large quantities of imperiled salmon. However, in response to legal action from the Humane Society, a federal appeals court temporarily halted the hunt in favor of a plan to humanely capture them and cart them off to zoos and marine parks. A hearing on May 8 will determine whether state wildlife officials will be allowed to cull Bonneville sea lions instead of trapping them. Meanwhile, sea lion trapping in the area is being suspended during the investigation of the rogue killings.
source: Associated Press
Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success
‘Copenhagen Diagnosis’ offers a grim update to the IPCC’s climate science
Comments
View as Flat
caniscandida Posted 4:29 am
05 May 2008
It would be especially troubling if the shootings of the three elephant seals in California were done by the same gunman who shot the six sea lions at the Bonneville Dam.
Permalink
karenc Posted 8:31 am
05 May 2008
Karen
Permalink
gohuskies Posted 9:02 am
05 May 2008
What do you think about the seal clubbing industry in Canada as a form of population control?
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 10:10 am
05 May 2008
GoHuskies,
killing is never the answer. And in this case, what with all the self-centered anthropocentric alterations to the ecosystems of the PacNW rivers that human beings are responsible for, why in the world should sea lions pay with their lives for the current low numbers of salmon?
That human beings should be justified in murdering sea lions, so that there will be a few more salmon left to them to murder, strikes me as a pretty hellish bit of ethical reasoning.
Permalink
GreenNPR Posted 3:23 pm
05 May 2008
But seriously, not cool.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 5:08 pm
05 May 2008
Permalink
Tasermons Partner Posted 5:52 pm
05 May 2008
The (remaining) lions will stay at the dam.
Permalink
Pathos Posted 11:24 pm
05 May 2008
(Actually, other than maybe chanting along with that Limp Bizkit song, I think that's the first time I've ever used the term "nookie." But that has nothing to do with anything.)
gohuskies... I occasionally disagree with caniscandida's adamant philosophical position that killing is never the answer. That said, in the case of the Bonneville sea lions, killing is most definitely not the answer. And in the case of the six that were killed this weekend, killing not only wasn't the answer, it was freaking stupid.
This wasn't a benevolent act to save the salmon; these sea lions had already been captured and were going to be relocated. It wasn't any kind of political statement--though I suppose it's possible the shooter was feeding himself that excuse. The truth is, it was some psychotic asshole or group of psychotic assholes getting their jollies by killing innocent animals who weren't even free to run away from them.
If they manage to catch these people, then I might say killing is the answer. But that won't happen, and sadly, the shooters will probably never be caught.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 12:51 am
06 May 2008
I do not know whom I was channeling, Emily Dickinson perhaps, nor do I know under whose supernatural influence I was placed, such that I put that fussy little hyphen in "where-abouts." Writing it as one uninterrupted word, as you do, is so much more satisfying.
But you take my meaning well enough: All these pretty young things in the Gristmill community are seriously carrying on about serious subjects like GW mitigation and energy policy and biofuels, but meanwhile, really, they are thinking about sex. So the club music with the clubbable seals is quite appropriate, however tasteless we may find it.
As for what "the answer" means in my gnomic assertion, "Killing is never the answer": Sometimes, killing is the only practical solution, as with white-tailed deer whose numbers are excessive in Midwestern and Northeastern forests. But that does not make killing the deer "the answer." When killing is the only practical solution, then that means that we have failed, grievously, somewhere down the chain of causes. And in cases like that, when the killing is carried out, we inflict a moral wound on ourselves. Killing, being never the answer, can never be dismissed easily, as if it were business-as-usual.
Waging war belongs in this context too. So does capital punishment. The greater the ease with which we justify our several acts of killing, the more deeply implicated we are in creating this hideously disappointing world of ours.
It should be noted, in the case of the wildlife agents by the Bonneville Dam, that they seem sincerely reluctant to deliver the sea lions to death. They will do as they are told, apparently; but, according to what the press reports, they themselves do not at all want to kill the sea lions, or see them die, and hope that everyone will be satisfied if only the sea lions can be transported humanely and alive to another location.
God bless them! And may their prayer be answered.
Permalink
amazingdrx Posted 1:14 am
06 May 2008
One or two videos of that torture would move policy more than any lobbyist can! I hope eco-activists are making this happen, youtube awaits!
It's all about sex Canis and Pathos. Why is that? Hehey.
The meaning of life? Unfathomable. But I know what I like! Going to watch the fish run in the spring rushing river tonight! Pure natural sex!!! Yippee!
Permalink
GreenNPR Posted 2:20 am
06 May 2008
I've always been committed to deep ecology and I see the deeper root of the problem is habitat encroachment by us humans and by our unsustainable practices that put a strain on these ecosystems.
Permalink
usandthem Posted 6:21 am
06 May 2008
The boneheads who shot the seals are just plain ignorant,and their trigger fingers should be amputated,to save the seals.We may see more of this kind of behavior due to total frustration with how this country is operating.Politicians who don't give squat what the electorate want.Big Business that does as it pleases with no regard to working people.Religion that is more concerned with their power base and money than with helping people cope with life,fairly.
Permalink
Wolverine Posted 9:48 am
06 May 2008
Now, three elephant seals were found shot to death near San Simeon, which is on the coast about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. See http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9167464?nclick_check=1 ... It seems very likely that the current killings of these animals were perpetrated by angry fishermen.
Permalink