A 1,454-pound sea lion died Tuesday during a health examination at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, a day after the state authorities trapped it.

Last month, the National Marine Fisheries Service granted permission for state authorities to kill as many as 85 sea lions a year at Bonneville Dam, where, in recent years, they have consumed a growing proportion of Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and steelhead.

However, last week, a federal court ruled that sea lions could not be killed under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Therefore, rather than killing them, state authorities have found shelters for as many as 20 sea lions in zoos and aquariums.

The one dying Tuesday was one of the seven animals being held in temporary quarantine at the Tacoma zoo for disease testing before being transferred to other zoos and aquariums across the country.

The male sea lion was anesthetized so blood samples and other biological work could be done to make sure it was healthy, but as it was coming out of anesthesia, it struggled to resume breathing and died, said Sandra Jonker, representative for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

“We’re all kind of bummed out about it because it was a beautiful animal, but it’s a risk when we handle these animals. The vets there are trained professionals. It’s unfortunate that it happened, but it did,” said Steve Jeffries, a state Department of Fish and Wildfire marine mammal biologist who added that sedation is a routine part of the procedure.

He was part of the team performing the health examination that also included another biologists who was a veterinary technician too, an Oregon State Department of Fish and Wildfire veterinarian, a NOAA veterinarian and another biologist.

“It was extremely obese – very, very large. Its sheer size and mass may have contributed to its death,” he said.

The death prompted the Humane Society of the United States, which opposes relocation of nuisance sea lions, to demand that captures stop until the death is investigated.