Moment California beachgoers rush to escape charging sea lion
Beachgoers in California were left screaming and crying on the beach after a protective sea lion approached them.
Lauren Bertrand visited La Jolla Cove in San Diego on June 23 when she film material of the angry sea lion.
Bertrand’s video first went viral on TikTok last month and resurfaced on YouTube this week.
Before the marine mammal attacked the beachgoers, it was swimming around the area with its babies. Bertrand also caught a glimpse of the babies.
The sea lion came close to confronting a swimmer before swimming away. The people were unharmed.
Lauren Bertrand was visiting La Jolla Cove in San Diego on June 23 when she captured footage of an angry and protective sea lion
The sea lion was with its cubs before waddling to shore and then approaching the swimming beachgoers
Bertrand shot the video while she was sitting on a bench near the lifeguard station.
She saw the sea lion and claimed the animal “looked like a rock.”
Bertrand and an unknown bystander saw the swimming pups and were shocked to see how big they were.
“There goes your shot,” said the bystander as the sea lion waddled toward shore.
Other bystanders in the seating area couldn’t take their eyes off the animal, as beachgoers on the sand took pictures with their phones.
The marine mammal jumped into the water and startled a child, who fell as a result.
She and another young girl who was close to the sea lion ran away from the scene as a group of swimmers watched the animal leave.
Bertrand shot the video while sitting in a seating area at the lifeguard station with an unknown woman
Bertrand thought the sea lion “looked like a rock” when she first saw him, far away from the swimmers
The incident came three months after an Instagram user named @salissav captured video of a man and his two young children getting dangerously close to a sea lion in La Jolla Cove.
“This was just the biggest idiot. Even after the sea lion made an aggressive move towards his child, he kept trying to take more pictures,” the Instagram user wrote in the video description.
“If you’re wondering why I didn’t intervene, I was too far away from this person for him to hear me over the noise of the ocean, the sea birds, and other people.”
Last year, another sea lion attack incident in La Jolla Cove was captured on video by Japhet Perez Estrada.
The sea lion ran out of the water and attacked the tourists who were close to the shoreline.
“Every summer people get bitten here and they pay fines for it. For us, the locals, it’s annoying because we value and respect the wildlife here,” Perez said at the time.
‘I understand their enthusiasm and they want to get close, but that’s nature. You have to keep your distance.’
Pup season usually runs from early May to late October. Sea lions use this time to bond, nurse, and teach their pups to swim.
According to the city of San Diego, interactions between humans and sea lions and their young can lead to aggressive behavior from the adult marine mammals. website.
Such interactions between a mother and her young “can lead to the sea lion pups being injured or abandoned.”
Sea lion season usually runs from early May to late October. Sea lions use this time to bond, nurse their young, and teach them to swim.
Sea lions are common on California beaches, and signs at the sites warn visitors not to approach if they see one.
The signs also state that sea lions bite, attack when agitated, and that it is illegal to intimidate them.