Articles on the Slaughter

Embattled Columbia River sea lions to have their day in court

The legal battle over the sea lions of Bonneville Dam returns to court on May 15 in Portland, Ore. Representing the sea lions will be lawyers for the Humane Society of the United States.  The animal rights organization contends that killing sea lions is not the solution to saving endangered salmon on the Columbia River.  HSUS is seeking a preliminary injunction against Oregon, Washington and Idaho to halt a sea lion killing spree that began this year on April 3.  As of April 30, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) workers have lethally injected nine sea lions and one is in captivity at the Shedd Aquarium.  Those are only this year’s victims.  READ MORE


Sea lion body count climbs at Bonneville Dam

The sea lion death toll continues to rise at the Bonneville Dam.  Since April 3, nine have been killed and one was taken into captivity.  A May 3 letter from Oregon state officials to the National Marine Fisheries Service documents the lethal injection of California sea lions C05 and C13 on Monday, April 30.  The pinnipeds are being targeted for eating endangered salmon, but activists charge that they aren't the real culprits  Read More

California 3rd graders campaign to save sea lions on the Bonneville Dam

It all began on facebook.  Angela Casey, an environmentally savvy teacher at San Francisco's Lafayatte Elementary School, had been following the plight of the California sea lions on the Bonneville Dam via the facebook page Save Misty the Dolphin.  The sea lions are being branded, hazed and lethally injected by state employees in Oregon & Washington for eating endangered salmon.  The states received special permission from the federal government to kill the sea lions.  Since April 3, nine sea lions have been killed and one was taken into captivity.  This just doesn’t seem fair.  Ms. Casey and her 3rd graders want it stopped. .... Read More

 

Oregon governor grants clemency to convicted murderer but not sea lions

For the last several months, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber has been fighting to keep convicted murderer Gary Haugen alive.  Haugen, who killed a former girlfriend’s mother in 1981 and then another inmate in 2004, was scheduled to die by lethal injection on December 6, 2011. Two weeks prior, at a press conference in Salem, Kitzhaber announced a ban on executions and granted a reprieve to Haugen.  The emergency-room physician turned governor described the Oregon death penalty as “morally wrong” and “a perversion of justice.”  Haugen rejected the reprieve and the case continues in court.  On April 18, a judge granted Kitzhaber the authority to defend the reprieve.  A hearing is scheduled for June 11. ...Read More

Social media campaign calls for salmon boycott to save Columbia River sea lions 

Weeks after the start of a federally authorized sea lion cull on the Columbia River, the social media campaign Save Misty the Dolphin has launched a boycott against Columbia River salmon.  
The boycott targets the commercial salmon industry on the Columbia River along with individuals who served on the Pinniped-Fisheries Interagency Taskforce and who advised the National Marine Fisheries Service to grant the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho authorization to lethally remove California sea lions from the waters near the Bonneville Dam..... Read More

Scapegoated California sea lions inspire young artists, writers and poets 

Following a ruling on March 22, 2012, by a federal judge, news of the euthanization of sea lions on the Bonneville Dam has made headlines around the globe.  Per U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg, up to 30 California sea lions can be lethally injected by workers from the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho for eating too much salmon near the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.  Since the ruling, workers from the state of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) have put 4 of the animals to death...... Read More

Elementary school students tell OR and WA governors to stop killing sea lions

Oregon state officials have captured and killed four California sea lions since April 3, 2012.  The pinnipeds were on a list of animals authorized by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for “permanent removal” as a means to protect endangered salmon on the Columbia River.  Several groups are working to end the slaughter of sea lions; among them are the Humane Society of the United States, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Sea Lion Defense Brigade and Save Misty the Dolphin. ....Read More

Branded, hazed and killed for eating fish: the tragic life of sea lion C779

His name was “C779”.  At least that was the name that was seared into his flesh by a hot branding iron on April 9, 2008.  He was a California sea lion living on the Columbia River.  Like other California sea lions, he had a dog-like face, was incredibly intelligent and he vocalized by barking.  Following a 12 month gestation period, he was born to a mother and a father.  He nursed anywhere from six months to a year.  In the wild, he would have lived about 17 years -- had he not been put to death on April 12, 2012 by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) officials for the crime of eating endangered salmon at the Bonneville Dam.....Read More

Are Steller sea lions the next victims of the Bonneville Dam killing machine? 

A proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), an agency of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seeks to remove eastern Steller sea lions from the endangered species list.  If this moves forward, Stellers could face the same harrowing fate as their California sea lion cousins, who are now subject to branding, hazing and lethal removal from the waters of the Bonneville Dam.
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Social media campaign urges kids to help beleaguered sea lions 

April 14, 2012  - With 4 sea lions already dead at the hands of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel and 26 more facing the same fate, the social media campaign Save Misty the Dolphin has called upon kids of the world to come to the aid of the harassed pinnipeds. ....Read More

Scapegoating + Bad Math = Devastation for Federally Protected Sea Lions at the Bonneville Dam

The concept of scapegoating has been around since the times of the Ancient Greeks.  They used the term “pharmakos” to describe a person (often a beggar or criminal) who was cast out of the community following a natural disaster.  In some accounts, the pharmakos was stoned or beaten.  In others, he was executed and the ashes were spread to the ocean.

Fast forward through the centuries to the waters of Taiji, Japan, where dolphins are scapegoated as “pests” by Japanese government officials and a small handful of fishermen who claim they are eating “their” fish.  As a result, the animals are brutally slaughtered in a shallow cove.  From September 2011 to March 2012, Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians witnessed the deaths of more than 700 scapegoated dolphins. Read More


Impressions on the Bonneville Dam

Last weekend Sea Shepherd Conservation Society volunteers visited the Bonneville Dam for the first time after NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service announced on March 15 their irrational intention to kill protected Californian sea lions in an attempt to protect endangered salmon. Read More

 

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