Experts sound alarm after sea lion attacks along Southern California coast: 'Definitely the worst we've ever seen'

Experts sound alarm after sea lion attacks along Southern California coast: 'Definitely the worst we've ever seen'

A 70-mile stretch of the California coast has transformed from a playful sea lion habitat to an attack zone for the animals. What's happening? The attacks on people in the water are likely the result of "domoic acid toxicosis caused by toxic algal bloom, often referred to as red tide," CNN reported. A surfer near Oxnard was ambushed March 21, and a 15-year-old was bitten in Long Beach on March 30 while trying out to be a junior lifeguard. Affect…

Not "Demonic" but "Domoic" -- Sickened Sea Lions Attacking Beachgoers in California

The BBC reports that last month a surfer paddling off the coast of Southern California was attacked by a sea lion that lunged at him, bit him, and dragged him off his board.  “It looked possessed,”  the surfer, Rj LaMendola wrote in a Facebook post, saying the animal involved in the encounter was “feral, almost demonic”. It turns out that the sea lion was not “demonic” but “domoic.” The sea mammal was poisoned by ingesting domoic acid — a neurot…