Tourists flock to Fisherman's Wharf each year for the seafood, the wax museum and the stunning views of San Francisco Bay. But for many, the stars of the show are the California sea lions, the flippered and seemingly friendly fish-eaters that lounge and play by the water's edge.
Now, a series of human-sea lion confrontations has officials rethinking their relationship with the area's most visible wildlife attraction. And experts say sea lions are not as cute and cuddly as they seem.
In the most frightening of the recent episodes, a single rogue sea lion bit 14 swimmers this month and chased 10 more out of the water at San Francisco's Aquatic Park, a sheltered lagoon that adjoins the bay.
PHOTO: AP
Some scientists theorized the animal's unusually aggressive behavior resulted from being poisoned after eating fish contaminated by a toxic algae bloom. But wildlife experts say even healthy sea lions are best left alone.
In Southern California in June, a sea lion charged several people on Manhattan Beach, then bit a man before swimming away. And in Berkeley, a woman was hospitalized in the spring after a sea lion took a chunk out of her leg.
Last year, a group of sea lions took over a Newport Beach marina and sunk a vintage 15m yacht. And a lifeguard in Santa Barbara was bitten three times while swimming off El Capitan State Beach.
Sea lions, which can reach 450kg, will typically bite only if they feel threatened or cornered. And they are more likely to flee people than fight them if they can find an escape route. Researchers have described the most recent attacks, where some swimmers were chased through open water, as abnormal behavior.
Still, with a population numbering about 200,000 and growing, the seals and their onshore human neighbors are increasingly likely to meet. And the encounters will not always be friendly.
Sea lions accustomed to the easy pickings of seafood scraps in popular fishing areas can become aggressive toward people if they fear that food source could disappear -- a likely factor in the Berkeley attack, said Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the Marine Mammal Center just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
A food shortage off the Southern California coast could be driving more hungry sea lions than usual to San Francisco Bay, said Lynn Cullivan, a spokesman for San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Humans could also be exacerbating aggression in sea lions in a more damaging way.
Toxic ocean algae blooms fed by agricultural runoff and other pollution can lead to the poisoning of marine mammals by a chemical called domoic acid, which is known to cause brain damage. The Marine Mammal Center, which describes itself as the largest rehabilitation center of its kind in the world, treated more than 200 sea lions for domoic acid poisoning last year.
Veterinarians at the center believe the brain damage caused by the poison could have led to the marauding animal's erratic behavior in Aquatic Park, Oswald said, though they cannot be sure without examining the animal directly.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not