Dead sea lions are washing up on Puget Sound shores — with bullet holes

[mountaineer]

Dead sea lions are washing up on Puget Sound shores — with bullet holes
Since September, 13 dead California sea lions have been reported, with six confirmed to have been shot, according to Seal Sitters, a volunteer group that responds to reports of stranded or dead marine mammals.
November 24, 2018
 By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times staff reporter

On the afternoon of Nov. 14, Randie Stone came across the bullet-pierced carcass of a California sea lion that washed up along the beach. In 38 years of living by the West Seattle shore, Stone has thrilled to the sights and sounds of these marine mammals, and she was saddened and angered by this encounter.

The next morning, just across the way from her Alki Beach house, people gathered around the body of another dead sea lion. “Honestly, I just could not go to look after what I had seen the day before, ” Stone said. “To me, this is such a heinous act.”

These two carcasses are part of a larger body count of California sea lions slain — in violation of federal law — by humans this fall in Puget Sound.

Since September, six sea lions have been confirmed to have died from gunshot wounds in central Puget Sound and Kitsap County, according to Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network, a group that responds to reports of stranded or dead sea lions. Another seven are suspected to have died from “acute trauma” caused by humans, including a decomposed sea lion with its head sliced off found washed ashore Tuesday in a West Seattle cove. ...

As their numbers have expanded, so too have their conflicts with humans, including some fishermen angry that sea lions may go after the salmon hooked on their lines.

Between 1998 and 2017, National Geographic, citing NOAA Fisheries, reported that up to 700 California sea lions were found with gunshot and stab wounds across their range which includes the waters off California, Oregon and Washington. ...

Full story at Seattle Times
 

[NavyCanDo]

First a observation from me who lives on Puget Sound. In my 60 years I have never seen so many California Sealions. When I was young if you looked you would see a head above water or one sunning himself on a bouy.  But now very common, and any large bouy has several sunning.
 The two possible suspects. Fishermen both Indian and non Indian who complain about the competition. But the more likely suspect is the SAVE THE ORCA activist, with the very liberal Seattle news media almost daily running stories about the dwindling population of the two main resident Orca Pods - which they claim is the lack of salmon. Which is BS too, as they just two years ago had record numbers at the fish counter going through the Locks into Lake Washiington.

[Applewood]

Whatever the reason, it's not right to kill these creatures and I hope whoever is doing this is punished.