Environmental enemy combatant, no guantanamo: First salmon-eating sea lion killed at Bonneville Dam

Wildlife officials put down a salmon-eating sea lion at Bonneville Dam for the first time Thursday, killing it with a lethal injection after a health examination determined it couldn't be relocated to a zoo or aquarium. The California sea lion -- branded C265 -- is thought to be the first deliberately killed by a Northwest government agency. Marine mammals received legal protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. The animal, captured in a cage trap Tuesday at Bonneville, was on a list of 73 male sea lions that habitually prey on endangered fish gathered at ladders below the dam, the first fish encounter when migrating up the Columbia. Veterinarians estimated the sea lion's age at 15 and its weight at 800 to 900 pounds. The sea lion was well-known to agency biologists. Wildlife officials from Oregon, Washington and Idaho said earlier that 30 sea lions at Bonneville could be relocated or killed this year. So far, officials only have enough homes lined up to relocate eight...The Oregonian