Thankfully, as you'll see, the little girl was rescued immediately.
Initially, after watching the video, we were curious as to why the sea lion showed an interest in the girl but discovered later (after reading the CBC news article), that it probably thought her dress was food!
According to SFU student Michael Fujiwara, the guy who captured it on video, the family began feeding it bread crumbs as the young girl got closer to the edge of the dock.
Andrew Trites, the director of UBC's Marine Mammal Research Unit, does not blame the animal for its behaviour in the video, according to another CBC news article:
"My first reaction to the video is just how stupid some people can be to not treat wildlife with proper respect," he said. "This was a male California sea lion. They are huge animals. They are not circus performers. They're not trained to be next to people."
According to Canada's Marine Mammal Regulations, "no person shall disturb a marine mammal except when fishing."
Trites says the sea lion in the video looks like it is used to having people feed it.
As a result of the incident...
— Meera Bains (@Meerakati) May 21, 2017
It's a good thing it didn't bite her when it dragged her in because their bites "can cause very serious infections that may lead to amputation of a limb or even death."
Source(s): cbc.ca
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