A local harbormaster says the animal had been snapping at people and pets, stalking them as they walked the docks.
Brandon Ware skins a sea lion at the South Harbor crane dock on Dec. 8, 2024, which he and his brother Billy Ware subsistence harvested the day before.
The massive animal had been terrorizing people and pets in Petersburg’s South Harbor. It was killed Dec. 7, but not by law enforcement. Instead, they collaborated with Ware, who is Tlingit and grew up hunting marine mammals. He plans to use the hide and whiskers for traditional regalia.Harbor Master Glorianne Wollen said the sea lion had been snapping at people and pets, stalking them as they walked the docks. She said people felt hunted.
She guessed this sea lion weighed upwards of 2,500 pounds, and she was getting a lot of complaints about it. She filed several reports with Petersburg’s National Marine Fisheries Service officer. Worried that something worse might happen, she contacted Petersburg’s State Troopers, too.Signage in Petersburg’s South Harbor warned of this bull sea lion, which had earned a reputation as a menace to harbor users.protects sea lions and other marine mammals.
Ware had heard about the aggressive sea lion through the grapevine. He told Kerr he’d love a chance to subsistence harvest the animal. Kerr liked the idea. “We had a couple of opportunities that we could have shot him, but because of the vicinity to the boats and vicinity to people, it wouldn’t have been a safe shot,” Ware said.
“As we were lifting it up on the big crane, the line snapped, and it sank like a rock down the bottom,” he said.
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