Fatal shooting of protected sea otter probed by California
MORRO BAY, Calif. — California authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a protected southern sea otter that had been rescued and returned to the ocean last year, officials said Tuesday.
The dead otter was found floating in Morro Bay in September and a necropsy determined it was killed with a pellet gun, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
A numbered tag identified the animal as an otter that had previously been found tangled in a fishing line. It was rehabilitated and returned to the wild in July 2016.
The killing was the latest in a rash of sea otter crimes along the stretch of coastline between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the department said. A skinned otter was found in September. Three otters were shot to death in August 2016.