Fisheries Service Employees Get Death Threats Over Sea Lions

National Marine Fisheries Service employees are not taking part in a hunt of predatory sea lions at the Ballard Locks because agency workers have received death threats, a spokesman says.

What was to have been the first day of the hunt for three sea lions designated as “special predators” also was marred by the vandalism of a trap.

Although a protected species, Washington received federal approval earlier this month to kill three of the more voracious sea lions that threaten to wipe out the run of steelhead passing the locks to reach Lake Washington and their spawning streams.

The state Department of Wildlife sent a boat out Monday morning near the locks. But Bob Everitt, the agency’s regional director, said too few people were available to take part in the hunt.

Spokesman Brian Gorman said no federal employees were on hand because some had been threatened with death if they participated.

Gorman said employees have received both written threats and messages left on their telephone voice mail in the past month.

Wildlife agents aboard the boat found that parts of a cage used by the federal fisheries service to capture sea lions had been removed. A group calling itself the Animal Liberation Front took responsibility for the vandalized cage.

Although the three designated predators could be killed if caught in the trap, Gorman said that was unlikely. The two spotted recently have not gone near the trap and probably are too smart to fall for it.