In a very disturbing news development, four California sea lions with fatal gunshot wounds have washed up on the Malibu shoreline since August. And authorities aren’t sure who is doing this, or why for that matter. It is illegal to shoot a sea lion as they are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
One thought is that maybe this has something to do with the squid fishing season, which began on October 1st. According to ABC7, it isn’t unusual for sea lions to be injured at this time as they can get too close to fisherman’s boats. And the fisherman are permitted to use special firecrackers to keep the sea lions at bay, but they definitely aren’t allowed to shoot them. There has been no comment from the squid fishing industry on this, and an investigation has commenced to look for clues. Hopefully, they will find out who and what is behind all of this! If you have any information regarding these, please contact the LAPD here.
