An update on sea lion deaths

A few months ago, we linked to the reports of the deaths of six sea lions at Bonneville Dam in the Pacific Northwest. Now there's an update, published in the Seattle Times.

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- The deaths of six sea lions at Bonneville Dam remains a whodunit.

On May 4, six carcasses were discovered in a pair of side-by-side floating traps below the dam. State employees had been using the traps to capture and relocate sea lions feasting on endangered salmon at a man-made bottleneck.

Federal and state authorities initially speculated that the animals had been shot....

But officials backed away from that assertion a week later after revealing that investigators found no fresh bullet wounds. They eventually told the public that the animals probably died of heat stroke while trapped in the cages.

The federal investigation remains open almost four months later, to the irritation of some fishermen who believe they were falsely maligned.

"Given how quick officials were to blame the sport fishing community, it's just incorrigible they're this slow to find and deal with the accountability for this issue," said Liz Hamilton, executive director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association in Portland. "It's sort of like that retraction that gets printed on Page 32, and the original story is on Page One."...

Plenty of questions remain unanswered.

The animals reportedly died of heat stroke, but it's not uncommon for sea lions to be out of the water for longer periods of times -- and temperatures were mild the night of May 3-4.

It's also unclear how the sea lions became trapped in the cages in the first place.

Wrangling wandering sea lions and elephant seals

As The Times noted earlier this year, pinnipeds have a way of getting themselves into some unexpected places. Above, those are two elephant seals near San Simeon, just off California 1. In a story with the unbeatable headline "Where Blubber Meets the Road," Catherine Saillant described how the elephant seals somehow worked their way onto the highway, surprising more than a few motorists.

In late June a 150-pound female sea lion found its way into a Santa Clara creek and stayed there for 10 days until it was rescued this week by police officers and volunteers from a marine life organization. The San Jose Mercury News described the sea lion rescue:

The sea lion was first sighted June 27 in the shallow water of a concrete-lined channel along the San Tomas Aquino/Saratoga Creek Trail, near the San Tomas Expressway.

Monday, a half-dozen police officers herded onlookers to one side as volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito wrangled the 150-pound female sea lion from the channel into the kennel, and then onto the bed of a pickup.

Jim Oswald speculated that fatigue on the part of the sea lion may have contributed to the success of her capture today. The animal appeared healthy, despite her 10-day ordeal.

"She swam around like a bullet this morning," said Linn Johnson, a Marine Mammal Center volunteer who assisted in the rescue.

This sea lion swam about three miles upstream before it became trapped. In 2005 another sea lion traveled five miles up San Diego Creek in Orange County, reaching the Irvine Civic Center. That creature, a 195-pound female, was captured, nicknamed "Irvine" and returned to the ocean.

But Irvine's exploits hardly compare to the wanderings of "Chippy," a 321-pounder that swam about 100 miles up the San Joaquin River. In 2004 a farmer discovered the male sea lion lounging along a road in Merced County -- a half mile from the nearest water.

-- Steve Padilla 

Photo: Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times

Aquarium of the Pacific celebrates its 10th year

A decade ago the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach was awash in complaints of overcrowded rooms, lousy food and boring exhibits. But not anymore, The Times' Louis Sahagun reports:

The aquarium ranks among the most popular in the nation in attendance, pulling in 1.4 million people a year from throughout Southern California. Aquarium revenues in 2007 were about $39 million, a 26% increase over 2006. Overall, its economic effect in Los Angeles and Orange counties has been about $1 billion, city officials said.

"This aquarium is on the younger side," said Steve Feldman, spokesman for the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums, "but they are definitely among the biggest and the best."

The aquarium now aims to become a center for teaching the virtues of watershed preservation and offshore aquaculture.

"I'm impressed with all the public outreach they do," said Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz. "To have such a resource at the edge of one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas is wonderful."

More than 12 million people have visited the facility, which was built during a nationwide boom in aquarium construction in the 1990s.

Sahagun's story also has a video and photo gallery.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Two sea lions found dead with apparent shotgun wounds

Federal authorities are investigating the deaths of two sea lions found in Seal Beach with what appeared to be shotgun wounds.

City lifeguards discovered the two adult sea lions north of the Seal Beach pier Wednesday morning, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service sent an agent to investigate, said agency spokesman Jim Milbury. The sea lions probably died about two weeks ago but just recently washed onto the beach, he said.

Their bodies were being transported to the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro for a necropsy to determine the cause of death, he said.

It is not unusual for dead sea lions to wash ashore. But if the deaths were caused by humans, attackers could face penalties for killing the federally protected species: up to $200,000 per animal and one year in jail, Milbury said.

Two other animals--either sea lions or seals--were found on the same beach earlier this week with apparent gunshot wounds but have already been buried, authorities said.

-- Tony Barboza

Sea lions died of overheating

Six protected sea lions found dead in government traps this month died of overheating, not gunshots, as had been initially suspected, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service in Portland.

Investigators had suspected foul play after finding sea lions covered in blood and puncture wounds inside a trap at a dam between Washington and Oregon. But a review found that the deaths were consistent with heat exhaustion.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Don Ryan/AP

An update on 6 sea lions killed in Oregon

Earlier this week, L.A. Unleashed reported that six federally protected sea lions were apparently shot to death on the Columbia River in Oregon as they laid in open traps put out to ensnare the animals, which eat endangered salmon.

But that may not be the case, according to the Oregonian:

Backing away from earlier suggestions that six sea lions were brazenly gunned down at Bonneville Dam over the weekend, federal fisheries officials said Wednesday that they do not know how the animals died.

They said they initially thought, based on puncture wounds on the neck of one animal and traces of blood, that the sea lions were illegally shot while trapped inside floating cages set up by state officials.

"That seemed at first blush to be the most likely explanation," said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency responsible for marine mammals. "That was the assumption."

But examinations of the carcasses "found no gunshot wounds and determined that the neck wounds were probably caused by bites from another sea lion."

Further tests are pending.

--Alice Short

Animals as artists ... seriously

For decades, zoos and aquariums across the country have encouraged animals to paint as a way to keep the penned-up denizens mentally enriched. Typically, the paintings were discarded or set aside.

But the Associated Press reports that officials have recently discovered that animal lovers are willing pay even thousands of dollars for the creatures’ creations, prompting zoos across the country to study whether their animal artists, such as Brittany the elephant at the Milwaukee County Zoo, might be an untapped source of revenue.

For details, read below.

-Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Morry Gash/Associated Press

Sea lion killer manipulated traps

Investigators theorize that the killer of six sea lions on the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon arrived by boat and was familiar with trapping methods, closing the doors of two metal cages before firing a high-powered rifle at the animals within, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The sea lions' carcasses were found Sunday.

Wildlife agents had begun trapping sea lions last month to keep them from eating endangered chinook salmon.

The trapping has been suspended.

American Indian tribes protecting their fisheries and state governments representing commercial and sport fishermen had promoted the sea lion removal.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Don Ryan/AP

Six sea lions apparently shot in traps

Six federally protected sea lions were apparently shot to death on the Columbia River in Oregon as they lay in open traps put out to ensnare the animals, which eat endangered salmon. State and federal authorities are investigating, Times staff reports.

The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in Central California.

Trapping will be suspended during the investigation, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who was at the scene Sunday.

The Associate Press offers more details:

     Oregon and Washington have been granted federal authorization to capture or kill up to 85 sea lions a year for five years at the base of the dam, where they feed on endangered salmon headed upriver to spawn.

     Fishermen and American Indian tribes have pushed to protect the salmon and remove the sea lions, by lethal force if necessary, forcing a delicate balancing act by the federal government.

     The Humane Society of the United States has gone to court to challenge the authorization, with another hearing set for May 8.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Don Ryan/AP

A reprieve for the sea lions

Sea lions vs. salmon, redux: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled some of the sea lions that gather at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River can be trapped but not killed. Joseph Frazier of the Associated Press has more:

NORTH BONNEVILLE, Wash. One by one, curious California sea lions checked out the open cage left invitingly on a platform in the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam and flopped inside to chill out on the nice flat surface.

Big mistake.

Around noon the door clanged shut and state agents concluded their first day of trapping the salmon-hungry sea mammals. The sea lions weren't having much fun behind bars Thursday, but it beat the bullet between the eyes some came within a whisker of getting under a federal removal authorization.

A day earlier the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that some of the animals could be trapped but not killed in reply to a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of the United States.

The sea lions are protected by a 1972 federal law. An amendment, however, leaves open the possibility that some can be captured or killed if the states request it. Oregon and Washington did in 2006 with the support of Indian tribes and sport and commercial fishing groups.

The National Marine Fisheries Service authorized removal of about 85 animals a year for five years but recommended limiting the annual take to about 30 and suggested capture take precedence over killing, to which the states agreed.

Thursday's haul was eight. Two were endangered Steller sea lions that had to be freed. Two had brands identifying them as among 61 that federal authorities had marked for immediate removal and the status of one is uncertain.

The others were unbranded or branded and not targeted for removal. Those will be hauled to the mouth of the Columbia River and freed.

Sea lions to be killed in Oregon

A federal agency has authorized the killing of some California sea lions that prey on migrating salmon and steelhead at the base of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon, the Associated Press reports.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman denied a request Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States to block the government from killing protected sea lions at the dam. Sea lions are protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act; the kill would be limited to about 85 animals.

The killing, authorized by the National Marine Fisheries Service, could start by the end of this week.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP

Dog Bites Seal

Seals, sea lions, and birds that beach themselves are attracting unwanted attention from dogs that bark at them, chase them and sometimes bite them. Dust-ups between canines trying to have fun and marine mammals trying to get some rest on the Southern California coast are particularly frequent on the shore between the north channel Marina Peninsula and the Venice Pier.

"Most of the beachings are probably animals that need help," says marine animal rescuer Peter Wallerstein, with the nonprofit Friends of Animals. "If they don’t beach themselves, they can’t help themselves and we can’t help them."

Wallerstein had to fend off three dogs to rescue this emaciated elephant seal pup that beached itself last week. "It’s a young one, just trying to figure out life without mom," he says. The pup is now recuperating at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro.

-- Carla Hall

Photo: Peter Wallerstein/Friends of Animals

Harpo, minus Groucho, arrives at the Aquarium of the Pacific

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is abuzz over its two new California sea lions, who this week were welcomed to its Seal & Sea Lion habitat.

Harpo and Milo, both less than two years old and born two months apart at an East Coast aquarium, arrived in Long Beach nearly a year ago, but were kept in a behind-the-scenes holding area until this week, when they were released for public viewing.  That's Harpo above.

Want to see them in person? Check the aquarium's website for information on them or the six other pinnipeds (fin-footed mammals) there. (And, no, Harpo is not a harp seal.)

--Tony Barboza

Photo by Hugh Ryono / Courtesy of Aquarium of the Pacific