2 arrested after sea lions shot

Lolita Harper

Two South County men face local, state and federal criminal

charges of animal cruelty and discharging a firearm after allegedly

shooting sea lions off the coast Tuesday morning, county sheriff’s

officials said.

Timothy Heightkemper, 56, of San Clemente, and Hal Williams, 67,

of Dana Point, were detained on suspicion of luring sea lions with

bait and then shooting them with pellet guns near the Newport Pier,

said Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol Sgt. John Whitman.

A city lifeguard lieutenant and an animal control officer at

lifeguard headquarters spotted the two men in a 30-foot boat about

1,300 feet offshore, Lifeguard Capt. Eric Bauer said. The two saw

people pointing what appeared to be a handgun at the marine animals

through binoculars, he said.

“It raised enough concern that we asked Harbor Patrol to respond,”

Bauer said.

Deputies got the call at about 10:50 a.m. Tuesday and immediately

responded, Whitman said. Upon arriving, authorities recovered two

pellet guns allegedly belonging to Heightkemper and Williams, he

said. The two men were detained, but have not yet been charged

because their alleged crimes span a variety of jurisdictions.

“A situation like this involves city, state and possibly federal

charges so we are going to complete a criminal report and transfer it

to the [Orange County] District Attorney’s Office for consideration

of criminal filing,” Whitman said.

Dennis Kelly, a veteran professor of marine biology at Orange

Coast College, said he hopes the men incur the most severe penalties.

“That is reprehensible and highly illegal,” Kelly said.

Kelly was involved in a similar case in Los Angeles, where a sea

lion’s head was literally blown off, and pressed the area district

attorney to file federal charges. The men in that incident were

convicted and served jail time, he said.

Gunshots from even a small-caliber firearm such as a pellet gun

can cause life-threatening injuries, he said. If the bullet does not

kill the animal, it could die from an infection or become so impaired

that it is eaten by a shark. Kelly said the sea lions would die a

“slow and lingering death.”

The shooting of sea lions is a crime that happens all too often,

he continued, because of thoughtless and inconsiderate people who

view animal cruelty as a sport.

“They are targets because they are offshore in an area where there

are not a lot of people,” said Kelly, who likened the act to someone

shooting dogs in the street. “There is just too much of this going

on.”

* LOLITA HARPER may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by e-mail at

[email protected].