World’s largest posse joins hunt for killers of Bruno and Bobo.

The largest posse in the world, the American television viewing audience, has joined federal officials on the trail of the killers of Bobo and Bruno, two California sea lions who died in Redondo Beach in September.

After NBC’s “Unsolved Mysteries” on Dec. 14 featured a segment on the brutal killing of the two sea lions, about 100 viewers called from around the country offering money and their support to those seeking the killers.

The program had one kind of success--it rated 12th among network prime-time shows that week--but so far the big audience has not resulted in new information about the crimes, officials said.

Bobo, who was considered a pet to many King Harbor visitors, was killed in September when he was fed an explosive device hidden inside a mackerel, Harbor Officials said. Bruno, who made his second home on the dock used by the Redondo Beach Harbor Patrol, was shot in August and died in late September.

With the help of trained sea lions and Hollywood actors--including host Robert Stack--the television program reenacted the crimes that led to the death of the two marine mammals.

National Marine Fisheries Service Agent, Ray Sautter, who staffs the telephones at the television station, said he was inundated with phone calls from concerned viewers. “We were just swamped,” he said.

Jerye Mooney, the Southern California coordinator of the Fund for Animals, an animal rights group, said callers from Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin donated a total of $200 to increase the $2,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Bobo’s killer.

The reward, however, may not be necessary, according to Sautter, who said a federal grand jury in Los Angeles is expected to indict Bobo’s killer some time this month. The U.S. attorney’s office began investigating the killing in November and last week the grand jury subpoenaed two people who are possible witnesses to the crime, Sautter said. There is a suspect in the killing, he said.

Killing any sea mammal is a federal crime, punishable by a fine of $20,000, or a year in jail or both.

There has been very little evidence in Bruno’s killing and Sautter believes the killer may never be found.

Though the callers offered no new evidence to solve either case, many simply called to express their displeasure over the cruel killings, Sautter said.

“It really reinforced my faith in human nature,” he said.