Posted on 04/18/2008 1:40:28 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Humane Society of the United States has filed a request for an emergency injunction asking a federal appeals court to block the government from killing protected sea lions at Bonneville Dam.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman rejected a request for a preliminary injunction on Wednesday even though he said the Humane Society might prevail in court with a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the states of Oregon and Washington.
The ruling left open the possibility the states could begin killing the sea lions today. But the government and the Humane Society said they did not expect the states to begin taking any action against the animals until next week.
The Humane Society filed the emergency injunction request last night with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brian Gorman, service spokesman in Seattle, said plans called for trapping the animals and possibly sending about 20 of them to zoos, if they meet zoo health standards. Otherwise, they could be euthanized.
The Humane Society, however, fears the states could easily reject those plans and simply begin shooting the sea lions, according to spokeswoman Sharon Young.
"They've been saying in the press they have places for 19 to 20 of them, but we've been told that's in fact not true," Young said.
Gorman, however, said today the government has "firm commitments" from the zoos.
"The first choice is to place these animals," Gorman said, "and if they meet the standards they will find a home."
But he noted that the states "still have the authorization to use lethal means" if wildlife and fishery managers decide it's necessary.
Even though the California sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, an amendment allows the federal government to authorize killing problem animals shown to have a "significant negative impact" on salmon runs. Oregon and Washington requested the authorization in 2006.
Indian tribes and fishermen say the sea lions are eating too many threatened salmon at Bonneville Dam, where the hungry animals are gobbling up an estimated 50 to 100 salmon a day. The impact is estimated at between 0.4 percent and 4.2 percent of the spring chinook salmon run.
In its request for the emergency injunction, the Humane Society argued the "significant negative impact" standard applies only to the overall fish runs, not to whether there is an impact on fishermen.
The society also argues that authorizing the killing of up to 85 sea lions a year for the next five years will cause "irreparable harm" to the environment and affect recreation along the Columbia River, while saving at most about 2,000 fish.
Young also said the states may not be able to recover the bodies of some sea lions after shooting them, and that some may escape with serious wounds that cause them to suffer before dying.
"They can end up anywhere in the Columbia River system injured and starving," Young said. "It's not going to be clean."
In his Wednesday ruling, Mosman said damage to salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act trumped the potential harm to sea lions, which remain protected but are no longer considered threatened or endangered.
That is an outright lie and have no idea what they base that on.
No telling what will happen with the emergency injunction being it's filed with the 9th Circus.
Emergency injuction Ping!
Capture them, take them to north Alaska to feed the Polar Bears that are starving. Two problems solved at one time!................
HSUS is controlled by animal rights activists and anything they say or do should be viewed with suspicion.
Hershell’s offspring?
It’s a shame a few of those Willie’s don’t hang out at the mouth of the Columbia River. :)
We took a small ship cruise up the Columbia River last year. One of the lockages was at the Bonneville Dam. We saw these salmon eating machines first hand. The tour guide said they had tried to relocate one of the sea lions to the Pacific ocean but it beat them back to the dam.
Of course, if the orcas aren't available, there's always Plan B...
This case raises several questions for me. Like, are sea lions considered seafood? There have got to be areas of the world whree sea lion is considered good eats- can’t these things be sent to them? Also, why isn’t there the obligatory mention that these sea lions are descending on the dam because they are global warming refugees?
Oregon and Washington "Humane Society" ultimately intend to exterminate these problem animals which are having a significant negative impact on salmon runs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.