Six Sea Lion Deaths Still a Mystery.

Here is an update upon the sea lion story. The sea lions were found Sunday in two traps. Each held three animals, and the doors to both were somehow closed. They were all dead. The traps are intended to confine them until they are relocated. At first the main cause of death was thought to have been from gunshot, however analysts are not to sure. They went and examined the bodies and found no metal slugs in the bodies. The next thought was that maybe they were poisoned. Here is an excerpt from The Seattle Times describing it in detail.

"An examination of the heads of six sea lions who died in traps at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River hasn't given federal investigators reason to pursue toxicology tests to see whether the animals were poisoned, an official of the National Marine Fisheries Service said today.

Beyond that, however, federal officials revealed little about the mystery surrounding the deaths of the six animals trapped in cages as part of an effort to keep them from feeding on endangered salmon.

Fisheries officials have ruled out their initial assumption the six sea lions were shot to death and say they are still puzzled about how the animals came to be trapped in the cages. The trap doors had been left open, so the sea lions would grow accustomed to them until it was time to send them to aquariums."

They have studied the heads of the sea lions but have not released anything to the public as of yet.