SEATTLE (AP) †Federal authorities aren't sure yet who shot several sea lions in the Puget Sound region in recent weeks, but a conservation group has offered up $10,000 for information that helps convict the perpetrators.

At least seven dead sea lions and one harbor seal have washed up in Puget Sound and on the Washington coast since early December, Brian Gorman, a spokesman with NOAA Fisheries Service in Seattle, said Tuesday. One of the animals was a federally endangered Stellar sea lion.

Bullets or bullet fragments have been found or recovered from all seven sea lions, but biologists are working to determine whether the bullets killed them, Gorman said. He noted that stranded mammals have been found with old bullet wounds that aren't fatal.

The number of dead marine mammals is unusual but not alarming so, authorities say.

"This is not uncommon to have dead marine mammals killed intentionally," said Mike Cenci, deputy enforcement officer with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is assisting NOAA in the investigation. "I'm not saying it's rampant, but we investigate a number of these a year."

Salmon-hungry sea lions often[...]

[Published in GreenNews - Read the original article]