Dead Seal Mystery-Solved?

By now you're probably saying, "not another twist to that mysterious dead seal case up in Oregon!".

At least that was our take this morning when word came out the 6 seals died of...heat exhaustion, not gun shot wounds as was reported earlier.

Why does this matter? Politics. Water politics, salmon politics, resource politics, and the grandaddy of them all the news media.

So here it is, until someone else says something different, which in this very unlikely case of 6 dead seals-is likely to be the case:

Heat killed 6 sea lions trapped at Bonneville Dam

On Wednesday, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service said the sea lions had died of heat prostration. Officials say more conclusive results should be available in another 10 days, once tissue sample studies are completed.

The investigation into the deceased sea lions remains open.

Freakish Mystery Surround "Seal Shootings"

O.K, so it's not like the media gets things wrong all too often, but this is just too creepy. As you know we have been following recent events in Oregon where several caged seals were "shot to death" apparently in response to record low Salmon stocks.

Today an autopsy revealed that all 6 dead, caged, animals had not been shot at all...here's where it gets bizzare, read on:

Exam indicates sea lions weren't shot to death in Oregon

3 hours ago

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal fisheries officials now say the six sea lions found dead in traps on the Columbia River apparently were not shot to death.

Spokesman Brian Gorman of the National Marine Fisheries Service said Wednesday that preliminary results of a necropsy found no evidence of recent gunshot wounds but found numerous shallow puncture wounds in one animal consistent with sea lion bite marks.

Gorman says X-rays found metal fragments in soft tissue near the neck of two animals.

He says a metal slug was found in the blubber of one animal, but neither the fragments nor the slug appear to be fatal and may have been from old wounds.

The agency is still trying to determine how the animals died near the Bonneville Dam.

The Big Question-Just how do 6 caged seals end up dead in one single night?

Stay Tuned.