California teenager cut, scratched in sea lion attack during junior lifeguard trial: Reports
Although sea lions are a common sight in Long Beach, California, attacks are rare, Gonzalo Medina of the Long Beach Fire Department told local outlets.
A 15-year-old was hospitalized with several cuts and scratches after she was attacked by a sea lion in Southern California during her junior lifeguard cadet trial, local media outlets reported.
Phoebe Beltran sustained several cuts on her right arm and had to be hospitalized after she was attacked by the marine animal Sunday in Long Beach, about 24 miles south of Los Angeles, NBC Los Angeles and KTLA5 reported. Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jack Crabtree told ABC6 that Beltran, a junior lifeguard candidate, was out swimming during tryouts for the junior lifeguard cadet program's 15-to-17-year-old age group around noon Sunday when the incident occurred. While she has since then been released from the hospital and has even returned to school, she said the encounter has left her shaken.
“I’ve been stung by a sting ray, pinched by crabs, bitten by tiny fish,” Beltran told NBC Los Angeles. “But a sea lion?”
'Assumed the worst'
Beltran told KTLA5 she was in the water about 25 feet from shore during her junior lifeguard tryout and was in the final leg of her 1,000-yard swim when she suddenly felt an intense pain and "assumed the worst."
“Out of nowhere, I feel something biting my arm,” Beltran said, per KTLA5. “I saw a shadow of it, and all I’m thinking is, ‘Please, don’t be a shark. Please, don’t take off my arm and please, don’t kill me.’”
Turns out a sea lion had bitten into her right arm, leaving her injured with bite marks and bruises.
“The first bite — I went under, and I just see the shadow, but I couldn’t make out what it was,” Beltran told NBC Los Angeles. “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.”
Encounter left Phoebe Beltran with bruises, scratches
As Beltran screamed for help, a team of lifeguards and her mother ran to her aid.
“I saw something come up, like a fin, and somebody yelled, ‘Shark,’” Phoebe’s mother Bibi Beltran told KTLA5. “We all rushed to the water and when I realized it was my daughter, that’s when I broke down.”
The attack left the teenager with several bites and scratches on her arm and hand, but fortunately, she escaped grave injuries and did not need advanced treatment, ABC6 said.
Sea lion attacks in Long Beach are virtually unheard of
Gonzalo Medina of the Long Beach Fire Department told NBC Los Angeles she'd never heard or seen anything like this before in her "25 years of service."
While sea lions are a common sight in Long Beach, 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 Beltran was ill given it scampered away almost immediately, authorities told the media outlet.
Medina said a "potentially aggressive behavior" is "certainly a side effect of the acid" but that "there’s no way to tell.”
“What we do know is the sea lion was very agile, very fast," Medina added, per NBC Los Angeles.
The Long Beach Fire Department and the Long Beach Fire Department Junior Lifeguard Program did not immediately respond when contacted by Paste BN.
The California Wildlife Center in late February had advised beachgoers to avoid distressed sea lions in the Malibu area after suspicions that the sea lions were sickened by domoic acid, a toxin deadly to sea mammals, from a recent algal bloom.
“Though we have not confirmed the cause for these animals’ illness, their signs and the recent rains make the situation highly suspicious for domoic acid toxicity,” the center had said in a post on Instagram, warning beachgoers to not interact with the animals on the beach and instead contact their team for help with distressed animals.
Sickened animals may “lunge and bite without warning," so the public needs to stay away, the Marine Mammal Care Center has warned.
Despite the frightening experience and injuries, Beltran remains undeterred, telling KTLA5 that she's determined to get back in the water and redo her tryout which was canceled after the attack.
“I love the beach. I love the ocean. I love swimming,” Beltran told the TV station.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.