Humane Society files emergency appeal for sea lions in Ore.

An animal rights group isn't giving up on blocking the government and two states from harming California sea lions that are feasting on the spring chinook salmon run at a dam on the Columbia River.

The Humane Society of the United States lost a bid Wednesday for a preliminary injunction to protect the sea lions. Late Thursday, the society filed for an emergency order ahead of its lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the states of Oregon and Washington.

The ruling Wednesday had left open the possibility the states could begin killing sea lions, but Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said Friday it would be next week at the earliest before any action is taken.

The states estimate the sea lions eat up to about 4.2 percent of the salmon run as it schools at the base of the Bonneville Dam to pass through fish ladders en route to spawning grounds upriver.

Brian Gorman, a fisheries service spokesman in Seattle, said plans called for trapping the animals and possibly sending about 20 of them to zoos, if they meet health standards. Otherwise, they could be euthanized. The Humane Society fears the states could easily reject those plans and simply begin shooting the sea lions, spokeswoman Sharon Young said.

"They've been saying in the press they have places for 19 to 20 of them, but we've been told that's in fact not true," Young said.

The government has "firm commitments" from the zoos, Gorman said Friday.

"The first choice is to place these animals, and if they meet the standards they will find a home," he said.

But Gorman noted the states "still have the authorization to use lethal means" if wildlife and fishery managers decide it's necessary.

Even though the California sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, an amendment allows the federal government to authorize killing problem animals shown to have a "significant negative impact" on salmon runs. Oregon and Washington requested the authorization in 2006.

The Humane Society of the United States filed its request for an emergency injunction with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Associated Press writer Joseph B. Frazier contributed to this report.