Posted by Mojo Mike on November 09, 2004 at 12:01:52:
In Reply to: Captain of the Pursuit arrested for shooting sealions posted by Chris on November 09, 2004 at 09:36:16:
In some areas certain special interests are paid by the government for losses caused by protected animals. Ranchers receive retributions for cattle killed by wolves or grizzly bears. Is one example.
They don't do this as far as I know in California for their protected animals. Of course, we don't have wolves or grizzly bears. We do have mountains lions and sea wolves(seals). With mountains lions and black bears they either trap them or shoot them. When they become a problem. I have had black bears in my laundry room before and Fish & Game came right out with a trap. What is the difference between that and some guy that lives on a boat. With a seal that moved in with him. Fishermen throw seals bombs. A poor and unsucessful cure for the problem in my opinion.
Imagine if the government had to pay for the damages. That these protected animals caused. There would be claims from boaters. Whose boat sank because seals hauled out on them to sunbath. I have seen large sections of docks underwater due to this. Fisherman could mount a video camera and document all the salmon. They lost to the sea wolves and put in for a government retribution. Even a diver could put in a claim for the presciption dive mask. That was stolen from some playful seal ;-)