A critically endangered sea lion felled by a gunshot has been identified as "BK", a one-year old male born on Otago Peninsula.
Police are investigating the death after a bullet was discovered in the decomposed remains of the seal lion.
BK is believed to be a descendant of "Mum", a female seal lion who came up from Enderby Island in the subantarctic Auckland Islands to give birth near Taieri Mouth in 1993, according to the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust.
She was the first female sea lion to breed locally in about 200 years.
"Fur seals were heavily wiped out before they were protected and they've really bounced back. But sea lions are a heck of a lot slower to breed, and the females tend to give birth where they are born," David Agnew, a Department of Conservation (DOC) programme manager told NZ Newswire.
DOC staff found BK's remains on January 29, after a wildlife tour operated spotted the sea lion alive, but injured by a suspected gun shot wound on January 5. It swam off before it could be helped.
Sea lions are tagged on their flippers, Mr Agnew said.
"They went back the next day intending to get the finer bones for a complete skeleton and that's when they found the .22 bullet."
Police want to hear from anyone with information.
A constable based at Portobello, on Otago Peninsula, is leading the investigation.
"Hopefully someone will come forward. You never know someone might have seen it, or there might have been more than one in a group," Mr Agnew said.
New Zealand sea lions are listed as a nationally critical threatened species.
NZN