Featured Image Credit: Daily Mail
Remember that video that surfaced a few days ago of a sea lion violently pulling a young girl into the water? Well, now the family of that girl is hitting back at the pier who blamed the family for feeding the sea lion.
It all happened on Saturday, May 20 at Steveson Fisherman’s Wharf in Richmond, BC, Canada. The six-year-old-girl and her family saw a sea lion swim up to the dock, and when she sat on the edge of the water the sea lion dragged her backwards into the water.
The girl was quickly rescued by her grandfather who plunged into the water and pulled her up.
A dock official later accused the family of feeding the wild animal, despite the numerous warning signs in the harbor telling people not to do so. He called people who ignore the signs and insist on feeding the animals anyway “blockheads” and “incredibly stupid.”
“This is where fisherman sell their catch directly to the public, it’s not SeaWorld,” said Bob Baziuk, an employee of the Steveston Harbor Authority. “Some people don’t read signs or don’t care, they’re blockheads, they think it’s OK for kids to get close to the sea lions.”
However, the family shot back by saying they were in fact not feeding the animal, the family next to them was. They did, however, admit that the girl was way too close and that is a lesson they all learned the hard way.
The girl was given antibiotics at a nearby children’s hospital immediately after falling into the water. She was being treated for a superficial wound that was two inches wide and four inches tall.
It doesn’t matter whose fault it was, this is a great example to us all of why we should never get too close to marine mammals in the wild. It’s actually illegal. According to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, feeding, attempting to feed, and harassment of marine mammals in the wild by anyone is prohibited.