The family recounts the attack on the long beach sea lion linked to the toxic algae poisoning – Orange County Register

“She has that. She is swimming in water polo, she is a walk in the park for her,” said Bibi Beltran, 52, to her husband on Sunday afternoon on March 30, while the couple watched their 15-year-old daughter, Phoebe, swim a round of 1000 yards during a trial as a junior lifeguard at Long Beach.

His comment was interrupted by two noisy and atrocious cries from the water near the Ocean Boulevard and Cherry Avenue area, in front of the head seat Beach Lifeguards.

Bibi Beltran initially thought that someone had tangled in the seaweed until another person shouts “Shark!”. A few moments later, she saw her daughter, injured and surrounded by rescuers and paramedics when she was rushed to the ground.

“I saw her get out of the water with his just arm gushing from the blood, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Long Beach’s mother.

Phoebe has undergone several injuries in the surface of – not a shark – but an aggressive bite of the sea lion. The teenager said that the attack had taken her off guard, she had finally adapted to the temperatures of the ocean in the shape of freezing and was almost finished with her turn of 1000 yards when she felt something locking up on her arm.

The shock led him to go briefly underwater. Even then, everything she could see was the shadow of everything that had decided to bite and hold.

“It bites me two or three times more, going down my arm,” she said. “It was painful, it was difficult by 10.”

The 15 -year -old woman was placed on an IV and rushed to the emergency room, where she received a tetanus and fluid shot that would eliminate all bacteria and reduce the risk of potential bite infection. She said the doctors did not think she was likely to be exposed to rage.

It was in the emergency room that Sophie learned that she had been attacked by a marine lion, their assault probably a symptom of poisoning with the home of the home of the home of toxic algae, according to her doctor.

“A sea lion is not naturally aggressive,” said Marine Biologist Dave Baver, from the Marine Mammal Care Center. “They are not in their good sense. It is 100% caused by the toxicosis of home automation acid from which he suffers. ”

Domoic acid is found in algae flowers, which are a natural event, and often follow an increase in the wind when deep cold water rich in nutrients rises to the surface and replaces the warmer and depleted water in nutrients. This becomes a problem when wastewater and streaming of fertilizers are combined with warmer waters due to climate change, contributing to large -scale toxic algae flowers.

Marine mammals such as sea lions, dolphins and whales that eat sardines, crustaceans and other fish contaminated by home -like acid become sick and sometimes die. Bover, whose organization saves and rehabilitates marine mammals, said that it was the fourth consecutive year that they saw “a large volume of marine mammals, affected by this and stranded on our beaches”.

“The toxicity of this particular flowering seems to be much higher,” said the marine biologist. “Animals are in worst state than in the past.”

The touched sea lions are often washed on the ground, disoriented and can suffer from attack and violent crises.

While sea lion attacks are rare, drooling urges beach to be aware as summer approaches and to give sea lions at least 50 feet of space. Interaction with them could make them have a crisis or make them stressed in a way that could negatively affect their ability to be rehabilitated. He said that if you see a marine mammal on the beach, do not approach it, call the rescue hotline at 1-800-39-Whale.

Originally published: April 2, 2025 at 7:03 p.m.