A teenager was attacked by a sea lion in Southern California while she was trying out to become a junior lifeguard cadet.
Phoebe Beltran, 15, has several cuts on her right arm and was hospitalized following the confrontation with the animal on Sunday in Long Beach, about 24 miles south of Los Angeles.
Although she has since been released from the hospital and was well enough to return to school, she said the attack left her shaken up.
“I’ve been stung by a sting ray, pinched by crabs, bitten by tiny fish,” Phoebe said. “But a sea lion?”
The girl said she was in the water about 25 feet from shore during her junior lifeguard tryout. She was in the homestretch of her 1,000-yard swim when she suddenly felt an intense pain.
That’s when a sea lion bit into her right arm, leaving her with bite marks and bruises, she said.
“At first, I just assumed the worst, like a shark,” she said. “I’m getting attacked, it has to be a shark. And then I’m like, ‘Please, don’t bite my arm off. Please don’t kill me. Please don’t let me regret trying out.’”
She recalled initially being afraid to see what was biting her.
“The first bite — I went under, and I just see the shadow, but I couldn’t make out what it was,” Phoebe said. “As I came up, I was way too scared to face it head-on. I’m screaming this way as it’s biting me over here and it finally let go.”
After yelling for help, the teenager was able to get to the sand as a team of lifeguards and her mother ran to her aid. She was then rushed to the emergency room.
“In my 25 years of service, I’ve never heard of something like this happen before,” Gonzalo Medina, of the Long Beach Fire Department, said.
Sea lion sightings in Long Beach are common, but attacks are rare. Cases of sea lions sickened by toxic algae blooms have increased across Southern California, but it’s unclear if the animal that attacked Phoebe was ill.
“Certainly a side effect of the acid is potentially aggressive behavior, but there’s no way to tell,” Medina said. “What we do know is the sea lion was very agile, very fast.”
It’s unclear what happened to the animal, since it swam off quickly.
Despite her frightening encounter and the unease that came with it, Phoebe said she’s determined to get back in the water and redo her tryout.
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