13 Year Old Girl Attacked by Sea Lion
Sea Lion Attacks Girl as She Surfs Off Australian Coast
The sea beast on the attack this time around is one you might not expect. A sea lion.
Ella Murphy, a 13 year old girl in Lancelin, Australia incurred quite the surprise as she surfed behind a speedboat off the west coast of Australia on Friday. As the girl surfed along the water, a sea lion jumped from the waves and attacked the unsuspecting girl.
The attack, as it's being called, has marine biologists puzzled as such an act by a sea lion is practically unheard of. While some officials suspect that the sea lion was simply intrigued by the girl and wanting to "play," the event seemed like anything but play for Murphy. The attack earned Murphy a broken jaw and caused her to lose three teeth. A family friend, Chris Thomas told The Sunday Times that the sea lion simply "exploded in a full-on frontal attack." Thomas described the sea lion as having "jumped out of the water at her and (hitting) her head on."
Seas lions can be territorial on land, attacking when provoked by humans, but usually only then. The animal has the ability to grow to be over 880 pounds and, while sea lions native to the northern Pacific are considered to be endangered species, Australian sea lions, like their California counterparts, are flourishing in number and speculated to number around 12,000. Sea lions diets consist of fish, squid and other sea creatures. Humans, however, are not considered a delicacy of the sea lion.
Sydney Aquarium's Grant Willis told reporters that he believed that the sea lion might have mistaken Ella for a playmate and treated her as one would treat a ragdoll.
However, Thomas sees the attack differently. "She popped up, and its head popped up out of the water about 10m away. It was looking for her." He explained.
Ella's injuries required surgery, but she now remains in stable condition according to The Sunday Times. No word on if the sea lion will seek counseling.
Published by Moi is Moi
Blogger, writer, and professional dreamer, Kel writes for a number of publications, but is most famous within her own brain. View profile
Steller Sea Lion: Facts and InformationMuch larger and lighter then the California sea lion, the steller sea lion spends most of its time out at sea, often only coming to shore during the breeding season.- Living with Bears, Sea Lions... and Bigfoot?I lived with Black Bears and Sea Lions near Florence, Oregon, eating berries, sleeping on the ground on a blanket, or in a packing crate, as part of my Tantric ascetic lifestyle, helpful for a healer and spiritual tea...
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- Sea lions can grow to be over 880 pounds.
- Ella Murphy is now in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
- Sea lions, while territorial, normally do not attack humans.
8 Comments
Post a CommentScary! Poor little girl. Maybe it was an accident on the sea lion's part.
Have we learned nothing from Buster Bluth?
Sea lions are on crack. So are Killer whales because they kill people and people are dumb. Like at Sea World the whales attack this ffat guy who wanted to play with it and the whale swam on this fat thing and ate the fat guys leg off. Thats wat he gets!
That would have freaked me out like mad! Attack from the deep!
I had to read the title twice! I just couldn't believe it that is SO uncommon for them to do this! That poor girl! The counseling comment cracked me up:)
It's sad the girl required surgery. Interesting article.
Good article. I have to say I think it probably was just trying to play with the girl. I feel bad for the girl though.
This is why you don't steal their blue buckets! (Granted that was a walrus, but still.)
Seriously though, I love how her friend basically says it was stalking her. :)