Sea lion death leaves void at the zoo

By the time Jerry Stones parked his truck in Seattle and spent a short night's rest on a hotel bed, he soon discovered that his drive to Washington may have been for nothing.

Stones made a call to see about the sea lion he was to bring back to Gladys Porter Zoo only to be told that it and the five other sea lions in captivity had mysteriously died.

Stones, the facility director at Brownsville's internationally known zoo, was told that the death of the animals would put a freeze on the capture of any more sea lions.

"Me and my boys were just devastated. Here they thought they were doing this wonderful thing and they were so excited about it," he said. "When I told them, it was like somebody had just deflated six balloons."

Washington fishermen and Native American tribes depend on the salmon traveling through the Bonnefield Dam one the Columbia River, but over the past several years sea lions have increasingly depleted the supply.

Because sea lions are protected, the groups negotiated that 85 per year for five years may be euthanized or given to third parties like the Gladys Porter Zoo. At least one of the sea lions that died last week would have been destined specifically for the Brownsville Zoo.

The 74-hour roundtrip from Brownsville to Seattle was a sacrifice for Stones and his crew, but it was also a financial burden on the zoo, where a refurbished exhibition space was waiting.

"We squeeze a nickel until we get six cents out of it," Stones said, his voice cracking slightly as he described the defeat. "We just blew all this money."

The facility spent $12,000 preparing the space, making the trip, paying for food and hotels along the way, and building special cages to carry the sea lions in as they made their trip.

The zoo used to have two sea lions, but one died of old age and the other died when he swallowed several large rocks and a washcloth that had been thrown into the exhibit space by visitors.

"We had been looking for some sea lions for the zoo for about six months," Stones said. "You don't just go to the store and buy some sea lions." When Stones heard about the Columbia River program, he says it was the perfect arrangement for the Zoo.

According to The Associated Press, the original suspicion that the sea lions had been shot has been ruled out and poisoning is unlikely.

But the sea lions, which were in two separate cages that had been inexplicably closed, were of different types and ages. Stones believes that it is highly unlikely that the animals would have spontaneously died, since sea lions can survive on their blubber.

"These things are sloppy fat because they'd been eating those salmon. I can tell you, it couldn't have been the heat either, it was cool up there," Stones said. "The histology, when they send that tissue off, will tell them more."

The result of the investigation remains to be seen, but Stones said that he hopes this incident will at least shed light on the lengths the Gladys Porter Zoo regularly goes to secure endangered animals and stretch their comparatively small budget.