WASHINGTON — The HSUS is offering a $2,500 reward for
information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person
or persons responsible for the shooting death of a sea otter in
San Luis Obispo County, California.
The conservation organizations Defenders of Wildlife and The
Ocean Conservancy are also offering $2,500, bringing the total
reward to $7,500.
The dead body of the male sea otter was found by a sea otter
researcher on a beach in San Luis Obispo County on June 5. A
necropsy finding that the otter had recently died of a gunshot
wound was performed by the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and
Research Center in coordination with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service’s forensics lab.
In February 2002, a male otter was found dead on Hendry’s
Beach in Santa Barbara County with a single gunshot wound to
the head. In May 2000, another sea otter was found shot and
killed off the Santa Barbara County coast. And in September of
the same year, an otter killed by gunshot was found in Monterey
Bay. None of these cases has been solved.
Dr. Naomi Rose, HSUS marine mammal scientist, said, “For
some time there have been conflicts between fishing interests
and sea otters. We understand that fishermen may be frustrated,
but if someone is doing this because they think it will solve
these conflicts, they are wrong. Killing individual otters is
not a constructive response to the situation.”
Sea otters are protected under the federal Endangered
Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Persons
convicted of knowingly violating the Marine Mammal Protection
Act could face a maximum penalty of a year in jail, a $10,000
fine, or both. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is
investigating this case.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the
California Department of Fish and Game’s CalTip poaching
hotline at 1-888-334-2258 or the USFWS’s law enforcement office
at 310-328-1516. Calls can be made anonymously.
