Humane Society challenges NW sea lion killing
A sea lion devours a salmon near Bonneville Dam in the spring of 2008, the first year that state authorities began trapping sea lions that treat the man-made bottleneck in the Columbia River as a buffet line.
Friday, May 20, 2011
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The Humane Society of the United States has gone back to federal court to block the killing of California sea lions that eat endangered or threatened salmon at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River east of Portland.
The Humane Society said it filed a lawsuit Friday in Washington, D.C., seeking to stop the National Marine Fisheries Service from authorizing the killing of as many as 255 sea lions over the next three years.
The agency last week said it had complied with a previous federal court ruling and authorized Oregon and Washington to resume trapping sea lions for removal.
The Humane Society has argued the sea lions do not seriously damage fish runs and killing them does nothing to improve them.
Fisheries officials were not immediately available for comment.
