If you needed a reminder not to mess with nature, here’s another one. At the Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf in Richmond, B.C., Canada, a family visiting the wharf were trying to feed a sea lion pieces of bread. What was probably posturing was interpreted as playfulness by the family because they kept trying to feed it as their daughter sat on the edge of the dock. Eventually the sea lion got pissed off and snatched the girl by the dress to pull her into the water. It only took about three seconds for the grandfather to jump in to pull her out. Witnesses say the family looked shaken up afterward.
The manager of Steveston Harbour Authority says he hopes the girl is okay but that they’ve been warning people for years not to feed the animals. “You’re just asking for trouble when you do that.”
According to Danielle Hyson, a senior marine mammal trainer for the Vancouver Aquarium, the sea lion was getting “increasingly frustrated” as the feeding stopped.
“You saw him kind of initially lunge out of the water and give a little huff. That’s what we would call an aggressive precursor,” she explained. “So he’s letting the people know that he’s starting to get frustrated. And in that situation, the people should have backed off right away.”
Also, they were probably trying to feed it that nasty wheat bread. Sea lions hate that.