PORTLAND, Ore. – A Rainier man faces federal misdemeanor charges of trying to kill a sea lion last April as it swam in the Multnomah Channel of the Willamette River off Sauvie Island.
In court papers filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors allege James Housley, 62, violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act by “harassing and attempting to kill a sea lion” by shooting at the animal.
The violation carries a prison sentence of up to one year and up to $100,000 in fines.
Federal prosecutors say Housley was fishing and became frustrated that a sea lion had taken a salmon off a companion’s line and shot the animal twice in the head on April 18. The animal was seriously wounded and in distress. It’s not known whether it survived the shooting.
Earlier this spring, U.S. Reps. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and Brian Baird, D-Wash., proposed a bill making it easier to kill the most aggressive of the sea lions.
The animals have been blamed for taking a large chunk out of already shaky salmon runs. The mammals have been congregating just below Bonneville Dam, where salmon get in line to swim up the fish ladders.
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