A paddle-boarder off California’s Santa Cruz coast was knocked into the water during a terrifying encounter with a sea lion, according to reports.
Heather Gray said the animal attacked around 8 a.m. as she traveled between Capitola Wharf and Privates Beach near Pleasure Point.
“I was like, ‘What, what’s happening?’ It was like a horror movie,” Gray told KNTV.
The sea lion bit Gray on her arm, hand and feet, forcing her to fight back as she tried to escape.
Footage recorded by Surfline captured the moment the animal struck and sent Gray plunging from her paddleboard.
“The thing that was the most bizarre was that it grabbed my hair,” she said.
Gray managed to climb back onto her board and paddled toward shore, but the sea lion continued following her, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“We’re so used to seeing them get really comfortable with us, and I knew this wasn’t really normal,” Gray told KNTV.
A friend later drove Gray to an urgent-care facility, where she was treated and received tetanus and rabies shots because of the bites.
Gray said she immediately wondered whether the animal was among the sea lions recently sickened in the region. “I know that there’s a lot of sea lions that are sick right now, so my first thought was, ‘Oh my gosh, this was one of these sick sea lions,’” she told the station.
The Marine Mammal Center said sea lions and fur seals in the Monterey Bay area have been affected this year by domoic acid poisoning. Researchers have not determined why the number of affected animals has increased.
The center warned that the toxin can cause marine mammals to behave unpredictably.
“Domoic acid poisoning is caused by harmful algal blooms,” the center said. “The neurotoxin accumulates in small fish that are eaten by marine mammals including sea lions.”
Another sea lion attack involving a surfer near Santa Cruz was reported Tuesday.
The Marine Mammal Center is advising people to remain at least 150 feet from animals that could be suffering from domoic acid poisoning.
Despite the frightening encounter, Gray said she does not plan to give up paddle-boarding.
“I’m not scared to go back out there, but I kind of want some of this domoic acid and red tide stuff to clear,” she told KNTV.
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