Crossbow works too.......Cavanaugh is the ex-2nd capt of the Excel
Two Men, Charter Company Charged In Sea Lion Shooting
Men Allegedly Shot Arrow Through Neck Of Sea Lion Pup
Two men and a San Diego-based sportfishing company were charged Thursday with firing an arrow through the neck of a 5-month-old sea lion.
Matthew Lyon, 38, of Morro Bay and Anthony Hill, 18, of San Diego were charged with violating the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act in a criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The charge, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum
penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Prosecutors also charged a San Diego-based charter vessel, Pacific Queen, and the ship's owner, Cavanaugh Sportfishing Inc. The vessel and its owner have agreed to plead guilty and pay a fine.
Owner Bill Cavanaugh said he had no involvement in the shooting but pleaded guilty to get the matter behind him and protect his business from mounting legal bills.
Hill, a member of the 88-foot Pacific Queen's crew, intentionally hooked a 5-month-old female sea lion pup on Nov. 4, 2002, with a deep-sea fishing rod that had been baited with sardines,
prosecutors said.
Hill reeled the pup to the stern of a nearby fishing vessel, Billy Boy. Lyon, who sells bait on the Billy Boy, fired an arrow from a crossbow into the pup's neck.
The young sea lion survived. Tourists visiting Morro Bay found the pup two days later with the yellow bolt protruding from her neck.
The pup, nicknamed "Arrow," was rehabilitated by volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center, who brought her to the center's hospital in the Marin Headlands.
Arrow was treated at the center and released three weeks later. She was found a month later, weak and thin, on a pier in Monterey Bay. Workers spent another month nursing her back to health before she was released again in February.
Jennifer Witherspoon, a center spokeswoman, said she was thrilled federal prosecutors had decided to press charges.
"It sends out the message that there are consequences for harming a marine mammal," she said. "I don't think many people in the public know sea lions are being killed and made to suffer needlessly."
Of the 500 California sea lions brought to the center each year, about 10 percent have suffered gunshot wounds , Witherspoon said.
She said there have been incidents of fishermen stuffing a bomb into a fish that explodes when it is fed to a sea lion. Center volunteers had to euthanize a male sea lion earlier this year because of injuries believed to be caused by a bomb, Witherspoon said.
(This post edited by skatemaster on 04/04/2003)
(This post edited by noreast on 04/07/2003)
(This post edited by noreast on 04/07/2003)
