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Hungry Sea Lion Drags Fisherman Underwater
In what seems like the start of some SyFy horror movie, a hungry sea lion bit the hand of a 62-year-old fisherman who was holding a large fish and pulled him underwater in San Diego on Sunday afternoon.
The fisherman was posing for a photo on a boat in Mission Bay around 4 p.m., showing off his big catch when a sea lion tried to snatch the fish from his hands, San Diego lifeguards told the L.A. Times. However, the 300-pound sea lion ended up biting the fisherman and pulling him overboard into the water. The fisherman was briefly dragged to the bottom of the bay, about 20 feet deep, for 15 to 20 seconds before he was able to get free and rise to the top of the water.
Lifeguards rescued the fisherman, who wasn't identified, and he was taken to a hospital to be treated for puncture wounds on his hands and feet, reported ABC 30.
Witnesses said they believe that the sea lion was attracted to the boat because the fisherman was throwing fish guts over the boat into the waters as he was cleaning his catches.
Baby California sea lions have been washing ashore in record numbers this year, seen starving and desperate and without their mothers. It may have something to do with climate change. As the weather gets warmer, there's less food in the waters for sea lions, and the mothers of these pups end up leaving them behind to look for their own food to survive.
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