An adult California sea lion lies dead at the mouth of Duwamish River in West Seattle, killed after it was shot at least a dozen times, an expert says.
Radiographs of the sea lion’s head show multiple bullets lodged in its cranium, said Casey Mclean, executive director of SeaLife Response + Rehabilitation + Research, a Des Moines-based marine wildlife hospital known as SR3.
It’s likely the sea lion was shot at or nearby the area where its body was found, which means someone was likely firing a gun to kill the animal in a public area, Mclean said. She said the animal’s body couldn’t have floated far and was found about three to five days after its death.
A passerby on the public waterway found the body last Friday and reported it to Seal Sitters, who then called in SR3 to determine the cause of death, Mclean said.
But the 600- to 800-pound adult male is too large to weigh or radiograph in its entirety, Mclean said, so responders had to estimate and take X-rays of only parts of the mammal’s body, including its head.
An autopsy could not be done either because it is too costly and burdensome to dispose of animal carcasses like that, which is not the responsibility of a group like SR3, Mclean said. Disposal would require a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the body would need to be hauled and sunk three miles from shore or handed off to a rendering company.
So, the body will be left to naturally decompose on the beach, Mclean said.
“This is not how Washingtonians see themselves taking care of our wildlife,” she said.
Killing or harassing marine mammals such as sea lions is illegal under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, Mclean pointed out, but recent legislation seeking to allow controlled killings could be creating tensions.
If passed, legislation introduced to Congress this year and co-sponsored by two Washington representatives would allow a federal agency to permit the “lethal removal” of sea lions and seals in Washington state waters to protect endangered salmon and steelhead runs, which supporters say are being excessively consumed by the marine mammals.
Mclean said there is no science to support those claims and worries that misinformation is fueling violence against sea lions and harbor seals.
The shooting and killing of these marine mammals is not unusual either.
Dead sea lions have been washing up on Puget Sound shores for years. A baby seal in Bellingham died after being shot in the head in July. Another seal was shot in the face along the Hood Canal in February. A pregnant seal lost an eye after being shot in the head years earlier in the San Juan Islands.
Mclean urges anyone who’s come across a dead animal on the beach to report it to local experts, so they can investigate the death and understand its linkage to threats like toxins, cancer and entanglements.
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