A 15-year-old girl is currently recovering after she was attacked by a sea lion over the weekend.
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While speaking to NBC News, the teen, Phoebe Beltran, said she was trying out to be a junior lifeguard cadet at Long Beach when a sea lion bit her.
“I’ve been stung by a sting ray, pinched by crabs, bitten by tiny fish,” she explained. “But a sea lion?”
Beltran said she was wrapping up her 1,000-yard swim when the sea lion suddenly attacked her. She sustained bite marks and bruises on her right arm.
“At first, I just assumed the worst, like a shark,” she continued. “I’m getting attacked it has to be a shark. And then I’m like, ‘Please, don’t bite my arm off. Please don’t kill me. Please don’t let me regret trying out.’”
Beltran then recounted being afraid to know what had attacked her. “The first bite – I went under, and I just see the shadows,” she continued. “But I couldn’t make out what it was. 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.”
Beltran’s mother was on the beach with lifeguards when the sea lion attacked her. She was rushed to a nearby hospital after finally getting out of the water.
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Gonzalo Medina of the Long Beach Fire Department couldn’t believe what happened to the teen. “In my 25 years of service, I’ve never heard of something like this happen before.”
Medina pointed out that while sea lion attacks are rare, many of the creatures have fallen ill due to toxic algae blooms throughout Southern California. It’s unclear if the sea lion attacking Beltran was sick from the algae blooms.
“Certainly, a side effect of the acid is potentially aggressive behavior,” Media explained. “But there’s no way to tell. What we do know is the sea lion was very agile, very fast.”
Beltran told NBC News that despite the attack, she is ready to get back in the water and redo her lifeguard cadet tryout.