NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Friday, January 11, 2019
Oregon begins killing sea lions after relocation fails
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Ore-
gon wildlife officials have
started killing California sea
lions that threaten a frag-
ile and unique type of trout
in the Willamette River, a
body of water that’s miles
inland from the coastal areas
where the massive carnivo-
rous aquatic mammals usu-
ally congregate to feed.
The state Department of
Fish and Wildlife obtained
a federal permit in Novem-
ber to kill up to 93 Califor-
nia sea lions annually below
Willamette Falls south of
Portland to protect the win-
ter run of the fish that begin
life as rainbow trout but
become steelhead when they
travel to the ocean.
As of last week, wild-
life managers have killed
three of the animals using
traps they used last year to
relocate the sea lions, said
Bryan Wright, project man-
ager for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife’s
marine resources program.
The adult male sea lions,
which weigh nearly 1,000
pounds each, have learned
that they can loiter under
the falls and snack on the
vulnerable steelhead as the
fish power their way upriver
to the streams where they
hatched.
The trout travel to sea
The Medford Mail Tribune/Jamie Lusch, File
In this July 7, 2016, file photo, a steelhead trout is reeled in
near Dodge Bridge along the Rogue River in Shady Cove.
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File
In this March 14, 2018, file photo, a California sea lion peers out from a restraint nicknamed
“The Squeeze” near Oregon City as it is prepared for transport by truck to the Pacific Ocean
about 130 miles away.
from inland rivers, grow to
adulthood as steelhead in
the Pacific Ocean and then
return to their natal river to
spawn. They can grow to
55 pounds and live up to 11
years.
The sea lions breed each
summer off Southern Cal-
ifornia and northern Mex-
ico, then the males cruise
up the Pacific Coast to for-
age. Hunted for their thick
fur, the mammals’ numbers
dropped dramatically but
have rebounded from 30,000
in the late 1960s to about
300,000 today because of
the 1972 Marine Mammal
Protection Act.
With their numbers
growing, the dog-faced sea
lions are venturing ever far-
ther inland up the Columbia
River and its tributaries in
Oregon and Washington —
and their appetite is having
disastrous
consequences,
scientists have said.
Last winter, a record-low
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
512 wild winter steelhead
completed the journey past
the Willamette Falls, accord-
ing to state counts. Less than
30 years ago, that number
was more than 15,000.
The sea lions are eating
so many winter steelhead
at Willamette Falls that cer-
tain runs are at a high risk
of going extinct, according
to a 2017 study by wildlife
biologists.
Wildlife officials moved
about a dozen sea lions to
Mostly sunny
Partly sunny
Partly sunny and
chilly
Mainly cloudy and
chilly
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
43° 30°
41° 25°
39° 23°
43° 30°
37° 25°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
42° 31°
42° 29°
40° 27°
40° 31°
38° 27°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
54/42
42/30
43/28
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
43/30
Lewiston
52/36
42/31
Astoria
55/42
Pullman
Yakima 43/28
51/32
48/31
Portland
Hermiston
51/39
The Dalles 42/31
Salem
Corvallis
49/35
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
43/30
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
51/36
44/27
45/29
Ontario
45/26
Caldwell
Burns
50°
31°
41°
28°
69° (1959) -24° (1909)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
51/36
Trace
0.18"
0.40"
0.18"
0.26"
0.40"
WINDS (in mph)
46/26
37/15
Trace
0.12"
0.57"
0.12"
0.33"
0.57"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 41/24
52/35
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
43/30
44/34
55°
32°
41°
27°
59° (2006) -21° (1909)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/31
Aberdeen
38/26
40/30
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
54/40
Today
Medford
50/36
Sat.
NNE 4-8
NE 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
NE 4-8
N 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
45/27
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:34 a.m.
4:32 p.m.
10:42 a.m.
10:13 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
Jan 13
Jan 20
Jan 27
Feb 4
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 78° in Thermal, Calif. Low -14° in Cotton, Minn.
their back or tags on their
flippers.
The animals are being
euthanized by a veterinar-
ian by lethal injection in the
same way that dogs and cats
are put down, Wright said.
Their flesh goes to a render-
ing plant.
Before a sea lion is
killed, the state must find
out if there is a zoo or aquar-
ium that wants the animal. If
so, Oregon wildlife manag-
ers must hold the sea lion for
48 hours before killing it.
In a similar program,
Oregon and Washington
have already killed more
than 150 sea lions below
the Bonneville Dam on the
Columbia River to protect
threatened and endangered
salmon.
State investigation: Care home
resident smelled of ‘rotting flesh’
By FEDOR ZARKHIN
The Oregonian/OregonLive
Fog in the morning;
partly sunny
the coast near the small city
of Newport last year, but the
animals ended up swimming
back to the falls within days.
So the state petitioned
federal officials for per-
mission to start killing the
animals, which are listed
as a federally endangered
species.
The permit from the
National Marine Fisher-
ies Service says the tar-
geted sea lions must have
been observed eating at least
one steelhead near Willa-
mette Falls between Nov. 1
and Aug. 15 or have been
observed in the same stretch
of river on two consecutive
days in that period.
Individual sea lions are
identified by trained observ-
ers who look at brands on
PORTLAND
—
A
national corporation shut-
tered a Brookings group
home for people with disabil-
ities last month after state reg-
ulators found that managers
repeatedly ignored caregiv-
ers’ concerns about a disabled
person’s festering pressure
wound, including that it
smelled of “rotting flesh.”
State regulators for the
Department of Human Ser-
vices moved to revoke the
home’s license before the
company’s local affiliate,
Mentor Oregon, closed the
facility along the Southern
Oregon coast Dec. 11.
Overarching safety con-
cerns also prompted offi-
cials to temporarily prohibit
the company from accepting
new residents at any of its 28
homes across Oregon, includ-
ing six in the Portland area. In
some cases, a ban for accept-
ing new residents wasn’t lifted
until December.
The state rarely takes
such aggressive action, issu-
ing similar restrictions only
a handful of times in recent
years.
State regulators found that
Mentor Oregon managers
failed to train staff, provided
minimal care and made med-
ically inappropriate decisions
as a disabled person who
couldn’t walk or communi-
cate deteriorated for months in
2017, according to an investi-
gative report from May 2018
obtained by The Oregonian/
OregonLive through a public
records request.
The person was eventually
moved to a new home and
immediately hospitalized for
surgery to remove dead and
decaying tissue, according to
state records.
State reports don’t pro-
vide the person’s name, age or
gender.
Toni Larson, state ombuds-
man for people with disabili-
ties, said the official findings
are “disturbing” because they
show the facility failed to pro-
vide a basic level of care.
“It wasn’t one missed mis-
take or one missed opportu-
nity,” Larson said.
Mentor Oregon’s director,
Yvette Doan, said in a state-
ment that the company has
taken extensive steps to train
staff and worked closely with
the state to make changes.
While the company is
proud of its work in Oregon,
Doan wrote, “if we are going
to accept any small measure
of credit for a job well done
for those we support, we must
also acknowledge when our
services may fall short.”
The five managers named
in the report no longer work
for the company, Doan said.
Because regulators sub-
stantiated abuse allegations
against those former employ-
ees, they would be unlikely
to pass a background check
to work at a similar home in
Oregon, said Lilia Teninty,
director of the state Intellec-
tual and Developmental Dis-
abilities division.
Neglect at the Brook-
ings group home lasted mul-
tiple months in late 2017, an
investigator found, and con-
tinued after the investigation
began. The victim was moved
to a different group home in
November, nearly two months
after Community Living Case
Management, a state contrac-
tor that oversees disability ser-
vices in southwest Oregon,
launched its investigation.
The investigation found
that the person lost more than
a quarter of his or her weight
because the home didn’t have
a scale; staff members were
trained improperly or not
trained at all; and employ-
ees likely didn’t do enough to
treat the person’s pain.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Boy, 12, held in death of 92-year-old woman
CRESWELL (AP) —
A 12-year-old Oregon
boy is being held in juve-
nile detention on suspicion
of killing a 92-year-old
woman.
The
Register-Guard
reports that Emma Bur-
nell was found dead in her
Creswell home on Mon-
day afternoon after some-
one called authorities to
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
EastOregonian.com
To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255
or go online to EastOregonian.com
and click on ‘Subscribe’
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday,
Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers
Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR.
Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
The Jan. 9 article “Agencies team up for after-school program” misstated how the
$5,000 Cycle Oregon grant will be used. It will be used for program supplies.
Subscriber services:
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
EZPay
52 weeks
26 weeks
13 weeks
His name was not
released because of his
age.
Authorities declined to
say whether Burnell knew
the boy, what led to his
arrest, who called author-
ities or how Burnell was
killed.
The child will make his
first appearance in juvenile
court on Friday.
CORRECTIONS: The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
report an injured person at
her address.
Jason Davis, a Lane
County Health and Human
Services Department spokes-
man, tells the newspaper that
the boy was arrested either
Wednesday or Thursday.
He was booked at the Serbu
Juvenile Justice Center in
Eugene on suspicion of mur-
der and first-degree burglary.
Local home delivery Savings (cover price)
$14.50
41 percent
$173.67
41 percent
$91.86
38 percent
$47.77
36 percent
*EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit
or debit card/check charge
Single copy price:
$1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday
Circulation Manager:
Bonny Tuller, 541-966-0828
ADVERTISING
Regional Publisher and Revenue Director:
• Christopher Rush
541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com
Advertising Services:
• Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
• Grace Bubar
541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
• Kimberly Macias
541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com
• Jeanne Jewett
541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com
• Dayle Stinson
541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
• Audra Workman
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases:
call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini
at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com
Business Office Manager:
541-966-0822
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com