Getting shot for…eating?!
Its should be no surprise to anyone - sea lions eat fish - a mere 4% of the Spring run of Chinook Salmon at the Bonneville Dam according to government estimates. And for simply doing what they have evolved to do, eat - up to 85 federally protected California sea lions who have been identified eating salmon below the dam, will be shot per year, for the next five years by Oregon and Washington Wildlife officials beginning as early as tomorrow!
Join us to protest!
Advocates will meet tomorrow, Monday, March 2nd, at 10:00 a.m. sharp, to carpool to the Bonneville Dam for a protest against this ludicrous plan to kill these protected pinnipeds. This is very short notice, so if you don't have a schedule conflict, please consider joining us!
What: Protest at the Bonneville Dam Against Killing Protected Sea Lions
When: Monday March 2nd, at 10 a.m.
Where: Meet at In Defense of Animals, 1732 NE Alberta
RSVP: Please RSVP if you are coming so nobody gets left behind, 503-249-9996 or matt@idausa.org
Government il-logic
To bypass federal protections of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the Oregon and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW & WDFW) applied for special permission to kill sea lions under section 120 of the Act. Shockingly, in their Environmental Assessment to justifying the killing they claim that the 4% of the spring salmon run the sea lions eat is making a "significant impact" on the salmon recovery, while at the same time claiming that the 13% of the same endangered salmon run they allow fisherman to take in is an "insignificant impact."
State officials dodge difficult questions
At a news conference last Friday jointly sponsored by ODFW and WDFW, state officials responsible for the decision to kill sea lions ignored tough questions asked by IDA and members of the independent media. To watch a brief video synopsis of this event, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lBsxsR3Ha0&feature=channel_page
The real threats to the recovery of collapsed salmon populations revolves around human caused problems - over-fishing, dams, and habitat destruction. Sea lions are being scapegoated, but killing sea lions is not going to solve these core problems, and the money being wasted on state-sanctioned killing is better spent on other conservation strategies.
Contact legislators
Legislators need to hear from wildlife advocates who want both the salmon and the sea lions protected! If you live in Washington or Oregon, contact them immediately and diplomatically voice your outrage about this government sanctioned executions of sea lions and let them know killing them will not solve the salmon crisis. To contact your legislators or find out who they are, goto:
Washington residents: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx
Oregon residents: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/
Ongoing campaign
Even if you can't make it tomorrow, please let us know if you want to get more involved in this campaign to stop the sea lion killing. In upcoming weeks activists will be organizing ongoing on-site monitoring to report and document the killing. To get involved contact matt@idausa.org or IDA at 503-249-9996.
