Last week, a young sea lion lay dying on the coast near Seaside. Although her condition was completely treatable, authorities were adamant that no treatment would be provided: They decreed that nature should take its course with the animal, and that they felt they needed to “keep humans out of the equation.” This might have made more sense, had the sea lion not been sick and malnourished in the first place due to human interference in the ocean ecosystem. It is also interesting to note that NMFS was one of the agencies dictating a “hands off” approach regarding the sick animal. This agency, after all, has allowed the very violent human intervention into the affairs of the sea lions of the Pacific NW, in the form of the “lethal removal” program on the Columbia that has already cost more than a dozen sea lions their lives. Thankfully, this is Cascadia, and here, we like to think (and act) for ourselves.