Followup: Bullet discovered in sea lion found dead at Lincoln Park

(Monday photo by RyAnn – onlookers young and old with the dead sea lion on the beach)
The California sea lion found dead at Lincoln Park earlier this week had been shot, reports Robin Lindsey of Seal Sitters. She had told us the sea lion would be necropsied – and late Thursday night, she sent word of results:

I am sad to report that indeed the necropsy yesterday revealed a bullet in the left lung lobe of the California sea lion at Lincoln Park. The animal’s intestines were also twisted and will be examined. Causes can range from obstruction by fishing lures and line to tumors, but could also be from trauma of the shooting. WDFW Marine Mammal Investigations will turn over the evidence and information to NOAA Office for Law Enforcement for investigation.

Robin has published more details on the Seal Sitters’ “Blubberblog” site.

49 Replies to "Followup: Bullet discovered in sea lion found dead at Lincoln Park"

  • PK22 January 27, 2012 (2:41 am)

    WTF is wrong with people?

  • rocky raccoon January 27, 2012 (3:05 am)

    People suck. It’s just that simple.

  • Wild One January 27, 2012 (3:34 am)

    Double U. Tee. Eff. Messed up. For real.

  • cj January 27, 2012 (3:51 am)

    I hope they catch the person who did this before hurt more animals.

  • Kayleigh January 27, 2012 (4:41 am)

    I hate people.

  • Bligs Mander January 27, 2012 (6:10 am)

    But it seems okay sometimes:

    http://m.npr.org/story/138172334?url=/2011/07/16/138172334/salmon-eating-sea-lions-targeted-for-their-taste

    We have a double standard on this subject.

  • Dc January 27, 2012 (6:43 am)

    That is so upsetting.

  • Brandon January 27, 2012 (7:25 am)

    agreed on both comments, look people this ain’t Washington circa 1850. We don’t need seal skins for trade or for warmth, this was just senseless. I know its a long shot but I hope someone is caught in relation to this.

  • Alki Resident January 27, 2012 (7:37 am)

    Im heart broken to hear this.We love seeing the seals and sea lions and they bring joy to many people.I hope they find this pos soon and charge him.And to the person who did this:
    KARMA SUCKS DUDE

  • Lolaleah January 27, 2012 (7:45 am)

    That makes me sick to my stomach.

  • westie January 27, 2012 (8:18 am)

    disgusting.

  • T-Rex January 27, 2012 (8:35 am)

    Who in the world would kill this animal????

    OMG that makes me so angry and sad.

  • RP January 27, 2012 (8:50 am)

    This world will be a much better place when people are extinct…Sick bast**d!

  • jiggers January 27, 2012 (9:54 am)

    Sea lions are destructive. They are the same exact thing as wild pigs on land as in the water. They have a list of enemies.

    Kayleigh … Don’t leave your cozy home if you hate people.

  • Goose January 27, 2012 (9:55 am)

    RP, you go first!

  • Bounce January 27, 2012 (9:58 am)

    If the sea lion were obviously dying…or writhing in pain; or if it had looked at the shooter with big brown clouding eyes; and if it had been shot it as an attempt at mercy, would these comments be justified?

    I don’t know what happened (and these hypotheticals are dubious, since shooting a sea lion in the chest is inefficient execution), but I do supposed that all possibilities should be considered before releasing such vitriol into the universe. Karma, indeed.

  • Aman January 27, 2012 (10:08 am)

    R.I.P. Sea Lion… What a crummy way to go.

  • frogger January 27, 2012 (10:33 am)

    So many twisted people in this world!

  • bridge to somewhere January 27, 2012 (10:47 am)

    jiggers: do you ever get tired of being so negative and always drawing the ire of folks on the blog? doesn’t it get boring?

  • frank January 27, 2012 (11:51 am)

    Good on Jiggers for speaking the (obviously unpopular) truth.

    Sea lions devastate salmon runs. There are people out there that don’t like that.

  • Jim January 27, 2012 (11:57 am)

    I’d have to say I’m fairly disturbed by the “I hate people” crowd.

  • jiggers January 27, 2012 (11:58 am)

    What’s negative about my post? Its the truth. And saying hating people is a big statement. I have the right to reply back with my own comment just like you just did with me. It’s an open forum…:)

  • Brandon January 27, 2012 (12:09 pm)

    humans devastate salmon runs and we are not being put down…

  • bridge to somewhere January 27, 2012 (12:11 pm)

    @frank: humans do too. so we should shoot humans as well? people aren’t making a comment that sea lions are more important than salmon–they are saying it isn’t appropriate for some random person to shoot a sea lion they come across.

  • herongrrrl January 27, 2012 (12:44 pm)

    Oh please. Sea lions don’t devastate salmon runs, except for the artificial run through the Ballard Locks where humans have set up a perfect environment for the sea lions to find easy prey. HUMANS devastate salmon runs by paving over the watersheds and letting all manner of toxins enter the water from runoff, sewers, septic systems and factory outfalls.

    That said, though, I think the human bashing here is a bit overdone. Loathing ourselves as a species (or every other member of our species besides the ones you know personally and choose to like) isn’t going to solve any of our species’ problems, or figure out who killed that sea lion.

  • Jiggers January 27, 2012 (12:48 pm)

    We know that indian tribes aren’t happy with those all you can eat at the buffet unwanted guests.

  • Jiggers January 27, 2012 (12:53 pm)

    Humans are the most destructive animals on the planet by far though..

  • Gary January 27, 2012 (1:11 pm)

    Probably a fisherman. And a poor one at that.

  • Dave January 27, 2012 (1:12 pm)

    Could be a gang related prank, seriously, teen boys creating street cred. Don’t rule this out.

  • bridge to somewhere January 27, 2012 (1:44 pm)

    jiggers: what’s wrong with saying, “Sea lions are destructive”? well, it’s a statement that 1) suggests that it is OK that someone shot the sea lion, and 2) that sea lions serve no purpose in the ecosystem. both, i would suggest, are negative things, and things that almost nobody in our community would agree with. that, and the second point is simply wrong if you believe in the scientific concept called “the food chain.” to say a higher order animal is destructive, by virtue of the fact they are of a higher order that eats other animals, classifies essentially anything above a single-celled organism “destructive.”

  • rmp January 27, 2012 (1:50 pm)

    Could be the seal was on someone’s boat or dock … but that is not an excuse to kill an animal … Seal’s are beginning to be over populated, but there must be a better way to handle it then this!

  • bridge to somewhere January 27, 2012 (1:56 pm)

    jiggers: also, i’m definitely not trying to discourage your comments. i guess i just wonder if you post stuff sometimes to get a reaction, or whether you truly believe everything you write. in any event, you remain the person i most want to meet on the blog! :-)

  • Jiggers January 27, 2012 (2:57 pm)

    Well bridge..you can contact me thru one of my secondary emails at kimokane1@hotmail.com for a future meet up.

  • Jiggers January 27, 2012 (3:00 pm)

    It’s not a seal rmp…. Big difference. It’s a sea lion. You should see the marina’s over in San Fransisco and how bad it gets there with those sea lions at pier 39..

    http://www.dolphinencounters.com/education-sealionvsseal.php

  • Zenyatta January 27, 2012 (3:57 pm)

    King 5 has this on their website:

    “Wildlife officials report at least 8 sea lions have been found shot to death in the Puget Sound region in recent weeks.”

    Seems like it may be more than an isolated incident, although the other 7 were found on the Nisqually River.

    http://www.king5.com/news/local/Sea-lion-found-shot-on-West-Seattle-beach-138227969.html

    • WSB January 27, 2012 (4:22 pm)

      There was a spate of sea-lion shootings here a year or two ago, and we broke that story as well, with most of them in West Seattle. Meant to go dredge up the link – stand by. Our story’s been linked from the Times site much of the day so I expected it would appear elsewhere. – TR

  • DBP January 27, 2012 (4:02 pm)

    Younger people on the Blog may not know this, but prior to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972) shooting of sea lions in Washington waters was not uncommon. Nor was it generally considered a moral outrage.
    .
    Back inna day, both commercial and sport fishermen saw the sea lion as “the competition,” and fishermen would often take rifles with them on the water, plugging any sea lions they saw swimming within range.
    .
    I’m not approving this, of course, but I do remember my gramps telling me stories about it. Just goes to show how much things can change in a couple of generations.

  • boy January 27, 2012 (6:25 pm)

    I always thought that when the sea lions were eatting fish at the ballard locks like they were going out stile they would do this. But what would have been great would be to bring down from the north eskimos to shoot slaughter and ship the meat back to there families up north. This would have driven the progressives nuts because it is part of eskimo customes and what ever native american do is fine but there killing seals. Oh what a dilama.

  • M. January 27, 2012 (7:11 pm)

    I remember Herschel, the poster-sea lion that wouldn’t leave the Ballard Locks. Easy pickings on the few salmon that crossed the bottle neck. Relocating, bombs didn’t have much effect. Culling the herd to favor the salmon is not likely to happen, I’ll wager fishermen are in on the shootings. This will be interesting to research, the salmon vs. sea lions, and what our Elliot Bay and Puget sound populations of both are doing.

  • Jiggers January 28, 2012 (9:41 am)

    There have been 8 sea lions killed in recent weeks. Here’s the story..

    http://today.seattletimes.com/2012/01/8-sea-lions-all-apparently-shot-found-in-puget-sound-area-in-recent-weeks/

    • WSB January 28, 2012 (9:44 am)

      The other 7 were all on the Nisqually River. Somebody linked that further up-thread.

  • keep vashon weird and cut them off from the rest of society January 28, 2012 (12:06 pm)

    Wait a minute here people. Has anyone thought of the possibility that the shooter and the sea lion may have exchanged looks and words before the shooting? Is it possible that the sea lion may have said “what’s up Jiggers?” to whoever was on the boat? We need to get both sides of the story here. The sea lion very well may have stared at the shooter and agitated him. Name calling may have put the shooter over the top and he lost it. I wonder if there is a way that we can find out if Mr. Chambers was out on a boat at the time of this shooting.

  • kelvingrove January 28, 2012 (1:21 pm)

    This story just made the front page of the BBC News webpage where it links to the story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16776395

    You heard it first on the WS Blog!

  • Cd January 28, 2012 (3:18 pm)

    It is sad. I was down there in the morning when it came ashore. An officer from SPD was there and investigating the carcass. It was a gruesome sight seeing the lifeless animal and the entry wound. I am not a fisherman, so I am unable to see this event from their perspective. I can only look at it from my own personal position and it was a sad event to observe.

  • bob January 28, 2012 (3:49 pm)

    Yes I agree…an animal shot is certainly evil…and so many people are outraged…fairly so. But, I have to wonder about the lack of outrage about the US’s continued need to be in wars/at war…Have we forgotten or chose to ignore the fact that wars KILL PEOPLE?
    Maybe our decision about who should govern our nation should select leaders who will stop sending US to war….stop sending our children to (GET KILLED )fight wars “to stop terrorism”. Truth is…we have become the aggressor, and succeeded in making many new enemies.

  • fj January 28, 2012 (9:47 pm)

    is everyone posting from the moral-outrage angle here a vegan? otherwise, give it a rest.
    sad, yes. end of the world? not so much.

  • ohthehorror January 29, 2012 (1:42 am)

    @fj – I didn’t post any notes of moral outrage, but I am a vegan. I’m not opposed to humanely killing an animal if you do it yourself for your personal consumption. If you kill for cruelty or sport, you may be a sociopath or just an @sshole.
    @boy – I would like to understand your posts which are no doubt full of wisdom. Alas, if I could only understand what you are trying to convey with your broken words.

  • buddy January 30, 2012 (10:28 pm)

    I’m still waiting for a reply from Robin Lindsey on my question about the status of seal/sea lion populations and their impact on our native fishes. Sounds like other people on this page are interested in the topic as well. I asked Robin this question in the original article about the dead sea lion and she said she’d write later that night but she never did write.
    *
    From an ecological standpoint, I wonder if the Puget Sound ecosystem would be better off with fewer seals/sea lions. It seems like their populations have grown quite a bit and their prey are dwindling. Doesn’t sound like the recipe for a healthy ecosystem to me. But I’d like to hear Robin’s take on it.

  • Robin February 3, 2012 (9:14 pm)

    First of all, let me apologize for being so late in my response about
    dwindling fish stocks. As you may know, with a number of shot sea lions in
    our area, as well as seal pups and an arctic ribbon seal on shore, Seal
    Sitters has had our hands full the past week or so.

    This complicated subject could be debated endlessly and people’s opinions
    are strong. I want to emphasize that these comments are solely my own and
    are not reflective of Seal Sitters or the stranding network. To believe that
    seals and sea lions are the reason for our oceans’ depleted fish stocks is,
    in my opinion, far off base. Seals and sea lions are not the problem. They
    are just trying to survive in the wild – competing for resources that are
    extremely limited. And the root cause of that lack of resources is humans.

    1) OVERFISHING. For centuries we have indiscriminately harvested the seas,
    dragging and scraping the floors in some areas until they are void of life.
    Only in recent years, when fish and crustacean species became drastically
    depleted, were government regulations enacted in an attempt to enable those
    stocks to rebound. Nets are not selective – they catch ALL species of fish,
    marine mammals and birds. Many, many fish are on the “do not eat” list –
    certainly seal and sea lions cannot be blamed for that.

    2) DAMS AND LOCKS. Dams and locks prevent fish from migrating naturally.
    Dams especially destroy outgoing fish and create huge bottlenecks for
    incoming fish. When large groups of fish gather at the base of dams to
    attempt to navigate inland, sea lions and seals gather as well. It is much
    easier to snack at a convenient food source, than search for scarce food
    over a larger area. Because of these big artificial congregations of fish
    and hungry pinnipeds that we humans have created, seals and sea lions become
    the convenient target for blame. It is a high visibility conflict with no
    easy solution.

    3) DESTRUCTION OF HABITAT.

    4) HATCHERY FISH. Hatchery produced fish are released and compete with wild
    runs of fish. Certain species are becoming threatened or endangered due to
    the introduction of disease (i.e., the introduction of Atlantic Salmon and
    disease spreading to other species).

    5) GLOBAL WARMING and “DEAD ZONES”.

    6) POLLUTION. Storm runoff laden with flame retardants, PCBs, etc, and
    marine pollution affects our oceans’ food chain – from the most microscopic
    organisms to the majestic orca. This human impact has created deformities in
    many species of fish, non-migrating seals with high contaminant loads, and resident Puget Sound orcas that are the most toxic marine mammals
    in the world.

    The list goes on. I feel it’s time we stop scapegoating seals and sea lions
    and own up to the responsibility of short-sightedness and greed. I am sure
    this debate will continue, but this will have to be my last comment due to
    time commitments. Thanks to everyone for your passionate discourse on this
    subject.

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