04/20/07 More tainted pet food & sea lion/salmon standoff

More Tainted Pet Food & the Sea Lion/Salmon Standoff. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. First it was wheat gluten that was tainted with the chemical melamine  now its rice protein concentrates used to make dog and cat foods that have been affected. So more recalls of pet food are in the works from Natural Balance Pet Foods products. Both ingredients were imported from China from different manufacturers. So far, the FDA does not believe any of the rice proteins have made their way to human food products. The debate is heating up on the problem of 2 protected species. Both salmon and sea lions are protected but nothing is protecting the salmon from the sea lions who find the salmon a tasty meal. Washington State Congressmen Doc Hastings and Brian Baird both support aggressive action against the sea lion. HASTINGS: Well at the end of the last Congress, Brian Baird and I sponsored a bill that would allow us to lethally get rid of the California sea lions who frankly have set up a buffet there at Bonneville Dam. We couldn't get it moving at the end of last year and we have reintroduced it again this year but I'm afraid we're not going to get it done in time in order to affect the buffet again that the California sea lions have. Washington, Oregon and Idaho are asking Congress for permission to kill more than 80 sea lions a year to protect the salmon. Hastings says there are two diametrically opposing points to the situation. HASTINGS: This is a situation where you have two federal laws that are in conflict with each other and what Congressman Baird and I are attempting to do is allow for the removal of these sea lions. Now here's today's Washington Grange Report. (GRANGE) That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.