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| credit: moldychum.com |
Here in Stumptown, sea lions are celebrating this Thanksgiving by eating salmon dinners while local fisherfolk watch with frustration. The nifty Ninth told state wildlife officials in Oregon and Washington on Tuesday that have not explained this "apparent conflict" to the appeals court's satisfaction: a human take of 5.5% to 17% of endangered wild salmon and steelhead depending on the size of the run is acceptable, but yet the 0.4 to 4.2% estimated taking of the same protected fish by sea lions is considered to have a "significant negative impact" by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Such an apparent contradiction in policy is violative of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
ruled the federal appeals court from San Francisco. Duh! The court ordered the stares to stop killing them. Thus, the irrefutable logic of numbers has given the gutsy pinnipeds a reprieve. But it came too late for 25 sea lions euthanized in the past two years [photo] for having the nerve to eat fish favored by the planet's greatest carnivore. Thank you, US Human Society for bringing the sea lions' cause to court.
