A young girl’s scary encounter with marine wildlife was captured on video at Stevenson’s dock in Richmond, Canada.
The girl was caught unawares when a sea lion dragged her by her dress and pulled her into the water.
The video has been watched over 5 million times on YouTube and has gone viral on social media. It was shot by Michael Fujiwara on Saturday and posted on Youtube.
In a news report, Fujiwara said that he visits the dock regularly but had never seen what he captured in the video before.
In the video, visitors are seen standing close to the water and clicking photos of a sea lion. Just when a young girl sits on a nearby ledge, the mammal pounces and drags her into the water.
A man immediately jumped after to rescue the girl. In an interview to the CBC, the director of UBC’s Marine Mammal Research Unit said:
“My first reaction to the video is just how stupid some people can be to not treat wildlife with proper respect. This was a male California sea lion. They are huge animals. They are not circus performers. They’re not trained to be next to people.”Andrew Trites
The director didn’t blame the sea lion for the behaviour and hopes that the video teaches people to exercise caution around wild animals.
Canada's Marine Mammal Regulations added that ‘no person shall disturb a marine mammal except when fishing’.
According to news reports, neither the girl nor the man who rescued her were injured in the incident.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)