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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016
Sea lions: ‘This is far bigger than Clatsop County’
Continued from Page 1A
Other commissioners cau-
tioned Hunsinger that while the
Port should take the lead on
expelling sea lions from Port
docks, the agency does not want
to Eecome ¿nancially or legally
liable by taking charge of com-
bating predation. Port Commis-
sion Chairman Robert Mushen
said the ¿shing community
could form a much more effec-
tive lobby, with support from the
Port.
“This is far bigger than Clat-
sop County,” Campbell said,
noting that sea lions are show-
ing up on docks from Califor-
nia to Alaska. “Everybody who
likes to eat a salmon should be
involved in this.”
The Port Commission
reached a consensus to have
Hunsinger continue his organiz-
ing role and report back to the
commission.
The Port has estimated more
than $100,000 in damage to its
docks from sea lions. McIntyre
said sea lions at her harbor have
destroyed entire docks and are
continually plaguing her staff,
who suffer in silence with a lack
of federal funding to help with
deterrents.
“I think we are going to
13smithwalker/Wikimedia Commons
Sea lions lounge at Moss Landing Harbor in California.
have to manually thin the
herd,” McIntyre said, echoing
the sentiments of Hunsinger
and others who say the sea lion
population has gotten out of
control.
Population growth
When the pinnipeds were
listed under the federal Ma-
rine Mammal Protection Act
Party barn: Smith
has racked up more
than $30,000 in ¿nes
Continued from Page 1A
So far, Smith has racked
up more than $30,000 in
¿nes, and more are pending.
However, in November,
Municipal Court Judge John
Orr ruled that Gearhart’s
zoning code did not prohibit
the types of activities con-
ducted at the barn.
Gearhart’s zoning ordi-
nance spells out only seven
permitted uses by a property
owner, but ¿nds “no refer-
ence, permission, restriction
nor regulation whatsoever
for parties, wedding parties,
large group gatherings, fam-
ily reunions, class reunions
and the like,” Orr said in his
ruling.
Two $500 zone code
citations were dismissed
and pending citations were
withdrawn by the city.
But safety violations is-
sued by Building Of¿cial
Jim Brien under the city’s
municipal and state build-
ing codes of more than
$30,000 remained, deliv-
ered after six events held at
Neacoxie Barn last year.
In December, the City
Council, acting as an ap-
peals body, upheld the pen-
alties citing Smith’s lack of
a certi¿cate of occupancy
allowing her to hold events.
Councilors then reduced
that ¿ne by half, to $15,000.
An additional $5,000
— for use of the barn
in November — awaits
City Council review.
Along with local zone
and municipal code actions,
Gearhart of¿cials ¿led a mo-
tion in Clatsop County Cir-
cuit Court to close the barn
from commercial use until
health and safety violations
were addressed and a certi¿-
cate of occupancy delivered.
Citing Judge Orr’s Gear-
hart ruling, Smith had asked
the Circuit Court to drop
Gearhart’s request.
Despite the ruling, the
barn or livery stable re-
quires a valid certi¿cate of
occupancy and Smith’s re-
quest to dismiss the injunc-
tion hearing was denied.
Smith and the city em-
barked on negotiations late
last month.
In a late December letter,
Smith’s lawyer Dan Kearns
requested a delay based on
“hopefully fruitful settle-
ment discussions.”
Kearns asked the Circuit
Court for a “60-day cooling
off period where the parties
would meet and confer and
attempt to resolve this dis-
pute.”
Since that time, the city
and Smith have been in dis-
cussions for an agreement
to give Smith more time to
present plans to bring the
barn up to code.
“She’s buying some
time for herself and we’re
allowing this pause to give
her that opportunity,” Sweet
said.
File Photo
Shannon Smith’s livery as it stood in the 1930s. Smith
has been trying for several years to renovate the facili-
ty and use it for an events center.
in 1972, the population was
estimated at less than 10,000.
NOAA now estimates the pop-
ulation is more than 300,000,
even after the signi¿cant die-
offs of starving pups along the
California coastline.
Male foraging sea lions have
sought refuge in the Columbia
River, coming in increasing
numbers to feed on strong salm-
on and smelt runs and other ¿sh.
McIntyre said she, along
with the entire California Asso-
ciation of Harbor Masters and
Port Captains, would support
joining an effort like the Port’s
sea lion committee. If Oregon
and California ports band to-
gether, she said, they have a bet-
ter chance of lobbying for help
against the animals.
Thiemo Schuff/Wikimedia Commons
The Port of Astoria will try inflatable air dancers to scare
sea lions off the docks at the East End Mooring Basin.
Seabirds: ‘You feel needed out there’
Continued from Page 1A
Nothing common about
these murres
Saranpaa, the director of the
Wildlife Center of the North
Coast, as part of the library
lecture series and in conjunc-
tion with the Haystack Rock
Awareness Program. All the
birds making the trip from the
100-acre refuge in Olney had
been rehabilitated by staff and
volunteers.
Annually, the nonpro¿t
Wildlife Center rescues an av-
erage of 2,000 animals, most-
ly seabirds, but also mammals
like bobcats and fawns.
“We specialize in sea-
birds,” said Saranpaa. “Can-
non Beach is one of our big-
gest contributors, as far as
seabirds go.”
In 2015, some 700 injured
birds were taken in after calls
in Cannon Beach.
Generally the center is
charged with rescues, ¿xing
broken bones, curing infec-
tions and raising orphaned
animals.
Also presented were a pair
of common murres, who can be
found on Haystack Rock.
“They do not have nests,”
said Stacy. “They lay their eggs
right out on the rock.”
“They are fairly monoga-
mous,” Stacy added. Even at
the center, the birds couple up,
the reason why two of them
made the trip to the lecture to-
gether. They’re more comfort-
able that way.
“I probably get more calls
about murres than anything
else,” Saranpaa said. “We took
in over 700 common murres in
2014 alone.”
Many of the murres are in-
jured after being wrapped up
in ¿shing lines, or being bat-
tered in the surf after failing to
achieve Àight as youngsters.
Finally, there was Flynn, an
American kestrel falcon. Flynn
was brought in with a broken
left wing, injured foot joint and
a split beak. He still has trouble
with the wing.
“American kestrels are the
smallest of the North Ameri-
can falcons,” Saranpaa said.
“You’ll see them, especially
driving around country roads
and ¿elds. You won’t see them
on Haystack Rock.”
Saranpaa also shared the
challenges of running a non-
pro¿t organization.
“Since we’re a nonprofit we
don’t have the resources to fix ev-
ery single fractured bone,” he said.
About half the birds are re-
turned to the wild.
Cost for care, he said, quick-
ly adds up. While a bald eagle is
in rehab, it needs a $17 duck to
eat every day. The center pays
$20,000 for ¿sh alone. /arge
orders of mice also add up.
Then there are the thousands
upon thousands of gallons of
water needed to ¿ll, clean, and
re¿ll pools so that the seabirds
can swim.
“We’re funded by public
donation,” Saranpaa said, ad-
dressing the crowd speci¿cally.
A number of them would make
donations before the evening
was over.
Saranpaa also extended
thanks to the city of Cannon
Beach, which he said had reg-
ularly given annual grants of
about $5,000.
Legacy of Sharnelle Fee
Saranpaa began volunteer-
ing at the center at age 16. Be-
fore Sharnelle Fee’s death late
last summer, the center’s late
founder and director handed
the reigns to Saranpaa, now
23.
“You feel needed out
there,” Saranpaa said of what
endears him to the Wildlife
Center.
Saranpaa was joined at the
lecture by Sue Stacy, a special
education teacher in Seaside
who has volunteered at the
Wildlife Center for four years.
Together, Stacy and Saran-
paa introduced four species of
birds, which milled about in
cages on the library Àoor.
The ¿rst, named “Grand-
pa,” on account of his bushy,
white eyebrows, was a rhinoc-
eros auklet, a member of the
puf¿n family.
“They are pelagic birds,”
Stacy said. “That means they
live primarily out at sea. You
would not normally see them,
though they do come ashore
for mating purposes.” Even
so, spotting a rhinoceros auk-
let can be dif¿cult.
“They make 20- or
30-foot-long tunnels,” Stacy
said, “and they only come
Andrew R. Tonry/For EO Media Group
The Wildlife Center’s Josh Saranpaa with an American kestrel.
out at night. They are strong
swimmers. They have a body
design that allows them to
dive deep and withstand pres-
sure from the water.”
Grandpa was brought to
the center after suffering an
eye injury. He now has only
one eye and is no longer con-
sidered safe to be released
into the wild.
Meet Nurdle
Also making the trip was a
northern fulmar — not to be
called a “seagull.” This one
suffered from maladies of the
man-made variety.
“His name is Nurdle,”
said Saranpaa. “He’s named
Nurdle because these birds
eat plastic in the environment
called ‘nurdles.’” Saranpaa
passed around a jug of plastic
pellets that had been removed
from the birds’ stomachs.
“For hundreds of years ev-
erything on the surface of the
ocean was edible,” Saranpaa
said.
Not anymore.
“Plastic ¿lls them up,” Sa-
ranpaa said. “It doesn’t pass
through them and they don’t
throw it up. They feel full and
they’ll starve to death. If that
doesn’t kill them, the plas-
tic will leach nutrients from
their bodies and kill them that
way.”
And while the northern
fulmar have trouble expelling
the plastic they ingest, throw-
ing up is something they’re
otherwise wont to do.
“Fulmars love to regurgi-
tate,” Saranpaa said. “Their
defense is actually puking
up on you. It is awful — this
gross, yellow, chalky, chunky
stuff.” And while Nurdle
didn’t do it too often, other
cages at the center have been
marked with warnings: “I’m a
spitter — look out!”
“In the wild there is a
practical use for that defense
against other birds,” Saranpaa
said. “When they throw up on
a bird with waterproof feath-
ers that help them Àoat, they
lose the waterproo¿ng and
can’t swim. That bird will ei-
ther become water-logged and
drown or become hypother-
mic and die.”
Text-to-911: ‘It’s a natural progression for centers to utilize the technology’
Continued from Page 1A
All cellular carriers are
being noti¿ed of the change.
As of now, if someone tries
to text 911 in Clatsop Coun-
ty, that caller will receive an
automated message saying,
“Please make a voice call to
911. There is no text service
to 911 available at this time.”
Public perception
Besides helping the hear-
ing-impaired community —
which represents 2.6 percent
of Clatsop County’s popula-
tion, Rusiecki said — receiv-
ing text messages meets the
expectations of a generation
that has grown accustomed to
communicating by text. “We
are always chasing or playing
catch up to the technology,”
he said. “We are a little bit be-
hind on that.”
Public perception is that
911 centers across the country
already accept text messages.
The confusion came to the
forefront during the Virginia
Tech shooting in 2007, when
thousands of students attempt-
ed to text 911 to no avail.
In Oregon last year, there
were more than 2,500 attempts
to send text messages to 911.
For dispatch centers al-
ready accepting text messag-
es, the most common uses
relate to domestic violence,
suicide attempts, kidnap-
pings, home invasions and
active shooters.
Astoria Police Deputy
Chief Eric Halverson said
there are some emergency
situations where people do
not have cell service to make
a call, but can still get a text
message to go through to dis-
patch. Being able to text helps
law enforcement and emer-
gency responders locate the
person.
“It’s a natural progression
for centers to utilize the tech-
nology,” Halverson said.
Balancing act
Rusiecki said receiving
text messages does come with
drawbacks. People often use
acronyms or abbreviations in
texts that can be confusing.
Dispatchers are asking the
public to text as clearly and
concisely as possible.
In addition, pinpointing the
location of a text message is a
little less accurate and there is
no special priority over a call.
Dispatchers also lose audio
clues in the background that
they usually glean from calls.
There is a balancing act
between convenience for the
public and overwhelming a
dispatcher, Rusiecki said.
The possibilities are end-
less, he said, especially if
photos and videos are able
to be sent in the future. “It’s
going to be a change in the
dynamics of the way we do
business,” Rusiecki said.
Astoria Dispatch receives
calls for Astoria Police, War-
renton Police, Clatsop County
Sheriff’s Of¿ce and area ¿re
departments. Seaside Dis-
patch, which receives calls for
South County agencies, plans
to wait for the state’s system
to receive text messages.
All Oregon dispatch cen-
ters are planning public out-
reach to encourage people to
call ¿rst when possible.
“Our message is still going
to be ‘voice ¿rst,’” Rusiecki
said.