A woman had quite a scare while paddle-boarding off the coast of Santa Cruz, California, after a sea lion attacked her, sending her tumbling into the water, as reported.
This incident occurred around 8 a.m. when Heather Gray was paddle-boarding between Capitola Wharf and Privates Beach, close to Pleasure Point.
“I was like, ‘what, what’s happening,’ it was like a horror movie,” she recalled during an interview.
Gray sustained bites on her arm, hand, and feet and had to defend herself against the sea lion.
A friend quickly took her to urgent care following the ordeal.
Footage from the site Surfline captured the moment Gray was knocked off her board. “The thing that was the most bizarre was that it grabbed my hair,” she added.
After regaining her balance, Gray paddled back toward the shore, but the sea lion continued to follow her.
“We’re so used to seeing them get really comfortable with us, and I knew this wasn’t really like normal,” she mentioned.
Eventually, at urgent care, she received treatments, including tetanus and rabies shots due to her injuries.
“I know that there’s a lot of sea lions that are sick right now, so my first thought was ‘Oh my gosh, this was one of these sick sea lions’,” Gray expressed.
According to the Marine Mammal Center, sea lions and fur seals in Monterey Bay have been suffering from domoic acid poisoning lately. The cause of the rise in such incidents remains uncertain.
The center explains that this toxin can lead to unpredictable behavior in these marine animals.
“Domoic acid poisoning is caused by harmful algal blooms,” they elaborated. “The neurotoxin accumulates in small fish that are eaten by marine mammals, including sea lions.”
A separate incident was reported on the same day involving a surfer and another sea lion near Santa Cruz.
As a precaution, the center advises individuals to maintain a distance of at least 150 feet from animals that may be displaying signs of domoic acid poisoning.
Despite her frightening encounter, Gray stated that she is not deterred from returning to the water. “I’m not scared to go back out there, but I kind of want some of this domoic acid and red tide stuff to clear,” she remarked.
