Appeals court stays execution of sea lions

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court gave a stay of execution on Wednesday to 85 sea lions slated to be killed starting on Thursday to help boost salmon stocks below a dam connecting the states of Washington and Oregon.

A lower court denied an initial request for a preliminary injunction but, in a late afternoon ruling, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals moved to save the sea lions pending further review of the case.

"The lethal taking of the California sea lions is, by definition, irreparable. This logic also applies to the salmon consumed by the sea lions," the court said in response to an emergency motion.

In balancing whether to let the California sea lions be killed to protect the salmon, the court noted that the 2008 salmon run on the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was estimated to be 269,000 fish.

The sea lions were estimated to consume between 212 and 2,094 of the Chinook salmon -- 4.4 percent of the total at the high end of that estimate.

"The States' authorized action to manage California sea lion predation at the Bonneville Dam is stayed to the extent their proposed actions involve the lethal taking of any sea lions," the order said.

The states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho had sought to proceed with the killing of the California sea lions and had received approval of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Even as the appeals court barred the immediate killing of the sea lions, it said a plan to transfer 19 of the animals to zoos and aquariums should proceed.