The Feeding Frenzy That Got Sea Lions Into Deep Trouble
When the hungry animals started swimming 100 miles upriver to feast on salmon, humans decided that they had to be killed.
by Sarah Zhang
Jan 31, 2019
4 minutes
Let us first establish that sea lions are supposed to live in the sea.
Since the 1990s, however, male sea lions—a handful at first, now dozens—have been captivated by the attractions of the Willamette River. They travel all the way from Southern California to Oregon and then swim up 100 miles of river to arrive at an expansive waterfall, the largest in the region. Here, salmon returning to spawn have to make an exhausting journey up the fish ladders of the Willamette Falls. And here, the sea lions have found a veritable feast.
“They’re kind of sitting ducks,” the wildlife biologist Sheanna Steingass told me, describing the salmon. She paused to consider the metaphor.
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