An unidentified girl was pulled off the dock at Steveston in Richmond, B.C. by a large male sea lion who naturalists say probably mistook the girl’s white dress as fish. Her shocked family members quickly pulled the child, perhaps aged 9 or 10, from the water and she is okay. The incident was recorded by Michael Fujiwara, a student at Simon Fraser University who happened to be nearby and began to take video of the family feeding the sea lion. Needless to say, part of the aftermath is a warning not to feed wildlife. Fujiwara says the family began feeding the seat lion bread crumbs. The video is charming in the beginning. Then the young girl gets closer to the edge of the dock, leaning over the edge and finally sitting on the edge. The alarming snatching of the girl occurs at about 1.35 of the video above. She sits on a protective ledge of the wharf within easy reach of the sea lion’s leap. He comes out of the water and grabs her dress with his mouth and take her into the water. Fujiwara said the child was shaken up but all right. So was her family.. “They were pretty shaken up,” he said. “Her family were just in shock.” Family slammed for ‘reckless behaviour’ after sea lion drags girl into water in Richmond, B.C.
