Sometimes, it is easy to forget that wild animals are just that, wild.
A group of tourists visiting British Columbia learned this the hard way when a recent incident with a sea lion resulting in a little girl being dragged into the water.
Michael Fujiwara was sitting at a Richmond, British Columbia dock on Saturday when a sea lion emerged from the water. Michael immediately grabbed his phone and started to capture video of the sea lion, which was seemingly playful and interested in the group of tourists who were excitedly staring at it.
It was at this point when another touring family, including the little girl, came to the dock and began feeding the sea lion from the edge of the water.
“Her family started feeding the animal and the sea lion started to become comfortable,” Fujiwara said. In the video, you can hear people laughing and whistling at sea lion and holding their hands over the water, as if they were holding a treat,” Michael explained.
The sea lion seemed to jump out of the water towards the little girl as she got close one time, but the family laughed it off as the animal playing a game. The playful appearance of the sea lion may have been misleading, and the little girl gained a bit of confidence and decided to sit right on the edge of the dock with her back facing the massive animal.
Suddenly, the sea lion jumped out of the water and pounced on the little girl, snapping her dress in its mouth and rapidly dragging her into the water. Without a second guess, an elderly man jumped into the water after the little girl in an attempt to save her.
What could have been a gruesome end to a wonderful day ending up being saved by the old man who grabbed the little girl and hoisted her up onto the dock before bystanders helped pull him up as well.
“After being pulled back onto the dock, the family quickly walked away from the area without saying much. They were probably very shaken up and just wanted to get away from the sea lion as fast as possible,” Michael said as he watched the event unfold in front of his eyes.
That day, Michael’s camera phone captured two things: an immediate reminder that wildlife is truly wild, and the story of an old man who became a hero and saved the little girl from a bad situation.
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