NEWPORT BEACH, California (AP) -- A fisherman accused of stabbing a sea lion with a steak knife after the animal stole his bait has been arrested.
The sea lion, a six-foot female weighing about 150 pounds, was stabbed in the heart and was euthanized, said Dean Gomersall, animal care supervisor at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.
"It's a horrible thing," Gomersall said. "My crew is extremely upset, and we're just glad the person was caught."
Hai Nguyen, 24, was fishing off a Newport pier about 12:30 p.m. Friday when the sea lion snatched the bait from his fishing pole.
"It was close enough so he could just reach out and stab it in the water," said Sgt. Evan Sailor, a police spokesman. "A number of people witnessed it and called police."
Nguyen was arrested without incident at the pier and held at Newport Beach Jail on $20,000 bail. He was expected to be arraigned next week on a charge of felony cruelty to animals, authorities said.
NEWPORT BEACH, California (AP) -- A fisherman accused of stabbing a sea lion with a steak knife after the animal stole his bait has been arrested.
The sea lion, a six-foot female weighing about 150 pounds, was stabbed in the heart and was euthanized, said Dean Gomersall, animal care supervisor at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach.
"It's a horrible thing," Gomersall said. "My crew is extremely upset, and we're just glad the person was caught."
Hai Nguyen, 24, was fishing off a Newport pier about 12:30 p.m. Friday when the sea lion snatched the bait from his fishing pole.
"It was close enough so he could just reach out and stab it in the water," said Sgt. Evan Sailor, a police spokesman. "A number of people witnessed it and called police."
Nguyen was arrested without incident at the pier and held at Newport Beach Jail on $20,000 bail. He was expected to be arraigned next week on a charge of felony cruelty to animals, authorities said.
Hey, I understand the the guy's frustration. Over 50 years experience fishing on the Pacific coast has left me with mixed feelings about seals. Ive had them follow hooked salmon right to the side of the boat, taking the fish just as i was ready to put it in the net. More common now is the experience of losing a 14 to 20 pound yellowtail boatside or worse yet, a big Pacific halibut just as I'm ready to gaff it and hoist it over the side of my boat.
Losing a big game fish to a seal that's figured out he can eat regularly by waiting for fishermen to anchor next to a kelp paddy is as frustrating as it is common. But I can't begrudge a seal or a sea lion a tasty meal. I can get angry at them, but I laugh it off. Especially when I sense a seal holding it's breath, hovering just under my boat as I horse in a yellowtail, yanking it into the boat just as the seal charges out from under the hull. The hurt look on the seal's face makes up for previously lost fish, almost.
I hope they throw the book at the guy who stabbed the seal. I really do.
Hungry,, spiteful seals are part of the fishing experience on the Pacific Coast. They make life interesting and force me as a fisherman to think how I'm going to land the fish I've just caught without having it ripped off my hook, just as I ready my net for a quick scoop. Seals, Sea Lions, sharks and porpoises. They all make fishing fun. And with that, I'm off towing my boat down I-15 to Dana Landing at Mission Bay, where a $20 bill buys me a half scoop (50 or so fish) of fresh green anchovies that I hope a couple of nice yellowtails will find enticing.--Jim Forbes, plug in the back of my boat on 07/29/2007.
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