Fake killer orca fails miserably

Discussion in 'World Events' started by Magical Realist, Jun 5, 2015.

  1. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    Over the past few months, the officials of Astoria Oregon have tried a few things to get rid of the hoards of loitering sea lions on its riverside piers. Beachballs? No effect. Even electrical shock mats didn't work. Except for tourists, nobody likes the sea lions being there, least of all the fishermen whose salmon catch the sea lions are gobbling up. They're loud and stinky and cause damage to the piers. Yesterday some guy from Washington brought down his giant fiberglass orca whale to see if that might scare them off. The prop accomodates a driver and includes a speaker that emits orca whale calls. It didn't work. The engine failed, and after they replaced that, the whole prop capsized due to waves created by a passing boat. The sea lions in the meantime looked on with their barking laughs as unphased and content as ever. They'll try this again in August. I say let them stay. I like seeing sea lions. And hell, they were eating salmon from the Columbia River long before WE ever came along.

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    Last edited: Jun 5, 2015
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  3. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    Nice post. It would be nice though if some solution could be found that made both sides happy [the sea lions and the fishermen]
     
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  5. Bells Staff Member

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    That fake orca is hysterical.
     
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  7. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    The sounds that an Orca makes could be transmitted through an underwater hydrophone to make the seals think there is an Orca hanging around and then would perhaps leave. The seals have other places to roost if they wanted but find this Warf just fine.
     
  8. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    True. Of course we've been eating sea lions for a pretty long time as well, which suggests a far simpler solution to the issue.
     
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  9. Janus58 Valued Senior Member

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    But not in these numbers. The last count put the number in Astoria at over 2300, almost 8 times the normal number of 300 for the basin. The reason for the infestation is an unusual warming in the East Pacific which has displaced their normal food source. I used to live about 17 miles from Astoria back in the 70's, and back then your best chance of seeing a sea lion was to visit the aquarium in nearby Seaside.

    P.S. It wasn't as if wildlife was scarce either. We had an Elk trail that passed within 50 yd of the house ( you could occasionally hear them passing through), saw an occasional black bear, and both salmon and steelhead spawned in Gnat creek across the road. We even trapped and released a great horned owl that had been preying on or chickens. (We didn't know it was an owl when we set the trap, only that something had killed and left a dead chicken behind.)

    This is the house where we lived:
    https://www.google.com/maps/place/K...2!3m1!1s0x54937fc6f996edf1:0x5a6d7b45f971214f

    If you zoom out, you'll see just how much "in the middle of the woods" it was and still is. (Oddly enough, the small creek now labeled "Supply creek" was where we got our water from. A foot-valve placed in the creek hooked to a pump that delivered it to the house. I remember many a time having to hunt down the foot-valve which had washed down the creek and then repriming the pump. But even this beat the "running water" we had when we first moved in, which was of the "run and go get it from the creek with a bucket" type. )
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2015
  10. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    New plan to get rid of Astoria's sea lions:

    PINK AIR DANCERS!

     
  11. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    amen
     

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