Who Knew Sea Lions were this aggressive? Show wild animals respect!

[aftershocks]

Sea Lion snatches a little girl and pulls her into the water at a harbor in British Columbia. Harbor officials reportedly blamed the girl's parents and said they warned people not to feed the sea lions. Apparently, there were no signs posted to that effect, and no barriers erected.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/girl-pulled-water-sea-lion-treated-seal-finger-infection-n764391 (A video link of the incident is embedded in the article)

I don't think it was the parents' fault when you look at the video. It happened very quickly. They probably should have been more careful about getting that close to the water, but signs also should have been posted and a barrier erected. An older relative jumped into the water and rescued the girl who was not hurt aside from a superficial wound where the sea lion had grabbed her.

I had no idea that sea lions were aggressive. There is definitely a danger of feeding a wild animal. I saw a video recently about a man who raised lions in his backyard. And he used to feed them with large hunks of raw meat through a fence. Because he felt like the female lion he raised was his 'daughter,' he used to play with her by pulling back on the hunk of meat so that the lion would grab harder. The lion wasn't playing around. It was hungry.

As a direct result, when the man's real adult daughter carelessly showed a couple of her friends the lion who she called her 'sister,' things turned very dangerous. The lion had been with this family since it was a cub. Unfortunately, while showing her friends the lion, the young lady placed her hand through the fence and then turned her head away talking to her friends. The lion was hungry (the father was at the store and he hadn't fed the lion dinner yet). Therefore the lion thinking the arm entering through the fence was food suddenly grabbed ahold and started pulling. Predictably, the young lady began screaming. Her friends didn't know what to do. They ran into the house to call for help. The father arrived, got his gun, and ran out to the yard. Since the father loved the lion, he at first tried to simply tell it to stop. He then hit the lion hard on the head with the rifle. Nope, the lion didn't understand what was going on. She was used to being fed raw meat this way with the pulling back and forth.

Unsurprisingly, the man finally had to make the decision to kill his lion daughter so that he could attempt to save the arm of his human daughter. Doctors were able to save the daughter's mangled arm, but of course she doesn't have normal use of it. Neither the man nor his daughter blame the lion. They grieve for it and blame themselves. They learned the hard way. But common sense might have helped them not go down that road in the first place. Treat animals with respect. Of course, the other lions the man had were removed by wildlife authorities (which may have been unfortunate for the animals who did not understand their removal to a completely different environment).

Someone recently said to me they don't feel that circuses should have been shut down completely, but that abuse toward animals in circuses should have been cracked down on. I'm not sure what the answer is on that topic. There has been such a history of abuse and confinement for animals in circuses and zoos. It's probably much better that humans view animals not as entertainment commodities, but as wild creatures deserving protection and respect.

In regard to the sea lion incident, it's fortunate that the little girl was not seriously hurt. The father said they were not the ones who were feeding the sea lions. He's also very grateful that his daughter is alive.

 

[judiz]

I heard the little girl is being treated with antibiotics as sea lions carry bacteria in their mouths that can cause a severe infection in humans.

 

[Japanfan]

I'm not convinced that this was an act of aggression or that the sea lion intended the girl any harm. To me it looked like it may have been an act of play.

I'm in British Columbia and there are some sea lions who are permanent fixtures at various harbors. For example, there is one at a harbor in Victoria who can virtually always be found near the docks, because he's accustomed to getting many snacks from visitors. Sea lions relate to humans well, can be be taught all sorts of tricks, and are commonly congenial.

WRT the lion story, playing tug-of-war with the lion's food in that way was pure stupidity, not to mention very dangerous.

Someone recently said to me they don't feel that circuses should have been shut down completely, but that abuse toward animals in circuses should have been cracked down on. I'm not sure what the answer is on that topic. There has been such a history of abuse and confinement for animals in zoos. It's probably much better that humans view animals not as entertainment commodities, but as wild creatures deserving protection and respect.

I'm pretty much opposed to animals in circuses, and was pleased to learn that Ringley Brothers recently shut down, and had previously eliminated its elephant act, considered to be abusive to the elephants by many.

But zoos don't have to be negative, confining and unpleasant.

I recently visited the San Diego Zoo for the third time and it is exceptional in terms of providing excellent habitats for the animals with suitable amounts of space. And plenty of what they call 'enrichment' items - toys and facilities for activities to give the animals stimulation and enjoyment.

It was really funny to learn that the polar bears would not swim in the water part of their habitat when it was at temperatures normal for the waters in which polar bears swim. The water had to be warmer to a certain point before the polar bears would consider going in.

I also enjoyed seeing the dog/wild animal pairings this last time, which is a new feature at the zoo.

 

[ballettmaus]

Aren't sea lions hunting penguins? I guess, that makes them not quite as harmless as they look.

 

[aftershocks]

I heard the little girl is being treated with antibiotics as sea lions carry bacteria in their mouths that can cause a severe infection in humans.

Yes, that's what the article I linked discusses, in part.

Thanks for your input @Japanfan. I actually meant specifically circuses, but I wrote 'zoos,' so I went back to add 'circuses.' If a zoo is responsible and protective of the animals, and are offering education and better ways of constructing habitat that is not overly confining, perhaps zoos are better than circuses. There have been so many abuses in circuses to elephants in particular, but also to lions and tigers.

 

[Japanfan]

Aren't sea lions hunting penguins? I guess, that makes them not quite as harmless as they look.

Yes, I believe they hunt penguins. They are not harmless in the sense that they are predators. I'm don't think they are commonly aggressive towards humans, but acts of aggression have certainly been reported according to this article.

http://www.sealion-world.com/sea-lions-and-humans/

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Informative, interesting and well-balanced article, which indicates how intelligent and trainable sea lions are, and points out the good work trained sea lions have done in assisting on diver rescues. But the article also points out that sea lions can't be expected to understand human behaviors, particularly when we carelessly invade their habitat during mating season.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[rfisher]

Aren't sea lions hunting penguins? I guess, that makes them not quite as harmless as they look.

Leopard seals hunt penguins, but sea lions can be very aggressive. They aren't disney characters. Moreover, this animal made a warning before the incident that was ignored. People who feed wild animals ask for what happens. I've seen people do really, really stupid things and then act shocked when the animal reacts in a normal fashion for the animal.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ The family claims that they weren't the ones feeding the sea lion, whether true or not. However, you're right that the sea lion aggressively jumped up toward the little girl initially as if looking for more food, even though maybe it was others throwing food in the water. The little girl was way too close to the edge of the water anyway. She could have toppled in on her own accidentally being that close. So that was also where the family should have been more cautious.

In addition, when the sea lion first jumped out of the water at the little girl, the family's reaction was to laugh giddily, thinking mistakenly that it was 'cute' behavior on the part of the sea lion. That's the point when they needed to think twice and pull their daughter away from the water's edge.