Sea Lions Are Biting Surfers in Southern California
Something’s happening with the sea lions in Southern California.
Marine rescue centers have been overwhelmed in recent days and weeks with sick sea lions, likely the cause of an abnormally large algae bloom, rife with domoic acid, which can cause brain damage, confusion, seizures, and death in marine life.
And because of that, sea lions are attacking surfers at an unusually high frequency.
“We’ve actually seen a number of surfers in the water that have been bit by sea lions and those sea lions are more likely to be sea lions that have had a seizure and are completely unaware of their surroundings, just erratically swimming and then they bump into somebody and bit somebody,” Dr. Alissa Deming of Laguna Beach’s Pacific Marine Mammal Center said in a report from KTLA.
One of the beaches with a high concentration of sea lion on surfer attacks has been Strands, just south of Salt Creek, in Dana Point. Officials have posted signs on the beach to warn beachgoers about the dangers.
The high rates of domoic acid, caused by the atypically large algae bloom in the water, is likely a contributing factor in the recent spate of attacks.
“Domoic acid is a neurotoxin that impacts the brain, your hippocampus in particular, and that results in seizure activity, and those seizure activities can result in animals acting anywhere from completely comatose and unresponsive to very hyperactive, confused and disoriented,” Deming said.
As a warning to surfers and swimmers who may come across a sea lion in SoCal, Deming added:
“Although they’re really cute and they may seem like they wouldn’t want to hurt you, they could if you shock them, give you a bite and that would be almost the equivalent of being bit by a bear.”
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