U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman recently gave a ruling in support of the National Marine Fisheries Service that gives Oregon, Washington and Idaho authority to kill sea lions because they eat salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River. The only rule for the killings is that states can only murder 85 a year each. Oregon, Washington and Idaho plan to start killing sea lions March 2009.

The campaign against sea lions was mounted by fisherman and tribal groups that complain that the animals decrease the number of salmon and steelhead leaving less for them to catch. It has been estimated that "0.4 percent to 4.2 percent of the annual Chinook run has been lost since 2002 to sea lions." Something tells me that a mass killing of sea lions will cause more problems than it solves.

YOU can be one of those problems. Write to Donna Darm because she can stop these killings from happening if enough of us get active.