Really. No kidding. A sea lion on death row. "Willy" may be innocent, the victim of a bad identification. Of course all death row inmates are "innocent". Here's Christopher Stone in the WaPo.
It is not uncommon for a law professor to have a client on death row. Mine is a sea lion. He goes by C657, an identity branded into his flesh by the Army Corps of Engineers. C657 got onto the wrong side of the law by, allegedly, eating salmon at the base of the Bonneville Dam spillway in the Pacific Northwest. That, the National Marine Fisheries Service says, is a federal offense, punishable by rifle fire. We lost in the lower court, which ruled that sea lions had no standing. His case is before an Oregon appeals court.
What can I say? I'm bored with Oval Office address diaries...
Don't panic yet, C657 is totally lawyered up...
In early April 2009, In Defense of Animals (IDA) took the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to court seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Willy, a California Sea Lion branded C657, from being killed. Advocates have named this sea lion after the famed Killer Whale Keiko, from the movie "Free Willy." The state agency has the wrong sea lion without authorization, which is just one more mistake in a growing pattern of government blunders since the states of Washington and Oregon received special federal permission to kill up to 85 sea lions per year who are seen eating salmon.
Now I'm not exactly a poster-child for PETA. I'm omnivorous, kill insects that annoy my tomato plants, and if you're into leather, I can accommodate you. But there are a few points about this case that bother me.
Firstly, C657 is a sea lion. Sea lions eat fish. A lot of fish, and, PETA notwithstanding, you can't convince them to eat tofalmon. Really. No matter how much you talk to them, explain how each pound of salmon comes from that salmon eating 4 pounds of other fish and how they'll live longer as vegans, seals will keep eating fish.
Secondly, there are no signs posted at sea-lion height saying that the Bonneville Dam spillway is a no fishing/dining area. It seems to me that federal regulation would require that the area be posted with multi-lingual (including Braille) signs.
Thirdly, IT'S A F&^%&ING SEA LION!
And Willy isn't the only one facing the firing squad, here's a list of sea lions on death row. The most recent executions were a group of six sea lions shot in March when their stay of execution expired. (Stone, ibid.) IANAL, but since this is a federal charge, I doubt the governor could issue a pardon.
Here's more stuff for those OR/WA residents...
If you live in Oregon or Washington please contact your Governor and State Legislators and tell them that you do not want your taxes to fund this misguided killing of wildlife. Each state is contributing $200,000 per year for five years to fund this sea lion killing project. With budgets in crisis, this a perfect place to cut, and would save collectively two million dollars.
There are links to TV reports and how to contact your Gov./Legislature in the above link, too.
Finally, a h/t to the Dark Wraith who has the final word...
But shooting a sea lion for eating salmon where he wasn't supposed to? REALLY?
Bad sea lion. BAAAAAD sea lion.