Hondo The Sea Lion Dies After Rescue From Ballard Locks

Hondo, a fish-gobbling sea lion rescued from a death sentence by Sea World of Florida last spring, died Monday, park officials said.

Hondo apparently succumbed to an infection, a necropsy found. Sea World veterinarians said they do not expect the illness to be contagious to the other sea lions at its Pacific Point Preserve attraction.

Hondo weighed nearly 1,100 pounds. Most adult male sea lions weigh in at 850 pounds.

“It really is sad. He was a neat animal,” said Sea World spokeswoman Becca Bides. “You couldn’t miss him.”

Hondo was one of five sea lions who rankled National Marine Fisheries officials with their voracious appetites for steelhead trout, an endangered species of fish.

Wildlife experts tried everything to scare the sea lions away from locks near Seattle, but nothing worked.

The five sea lions were marked for death for their destructive appetites - until a Sea World zoological expert heard about their plight.

“No other zoo wanted them, because they ate so much,” Bides said.

Three of the five were collared and put into a park in Tacoma until they could be flown to Orlando. Two of the rogue sea lions swam off to feast another day.