Sea Lion Mauls Surfing Teen

[The Joker]

PERTH, Australia (April 15) - A sea lion leaped out of the sea and attacked a 13-year-old girl as she surfed behind a speedboat off Australia's west coast, a newspaper reported Sunday.

A marine scientist said the attack by the sea lion, which can grow to more than 880 pounds in weight but usually stay away from humans, was bizarre and that the sea lion may have been trying to play with the girl.

Ella Murphy had her jaw broken and lost three teeth after the sea lion attacked her on Friday as she was being towed on a surfboard behind a speedboat at Lancelin, a town 80 miles north of the Western Australia state capital of Perth, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

"This thing just exploded in a full-on, frontal attack," family friend Chris Thomas told the newspaper. "It jumped out of the water at her and hit her head on."

Sydney Aquarium marine scientist Grant Willis said he had never heard of such an attack before.

"To be out in the water and be attacked like this is just bizarre," he said.

Sea lions can be very territorial, but usually only attack humans when provoked.

"It might have been like a rag doll toy ... it could have been ... play for them, just wanting to shake it around," Willis said of the attack.

Murphy was in a stable condition in hospital after having surgery, the newspaper reported.

[Big Ozzie]

Whoaaaa! :eek7:
Here is the young girl....
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5448797,00.jpg
Per Wikipedia:

A sea lion is any of several marine mammals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammal) of the family Otariidae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otariidae). Sea lions are characterized by the presence of external ear pinnae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinna) or flaps, long front flippers, and the ability to walk on four flippers on land. Sea lions are generally found in coastal waters of the temperate to subpolar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subarctic_climate) regions of both northern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_hemisphere) and southern hemispheres (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_hemisphere).
Sea lions are often a popular attraction at zoos and aquariums, performing behaviors such as throwing and catching balls on their noses and clapping.
Sea lions of many species have seen a severe and rapid decrease in numbers in recent years. Many factors including overfishing of other species, shooting by fishermen and pollution have probably contributed to the decline. The population of Steller sea lions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steller_Sea_Lion) in Alaska has declined as much as 80% since the 1970s. [1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lion#_note-0) [2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lion#_note-1) California sea lions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_sea_lion) are abundant and the population is growing.
Sea lions have been trained by the U.S. Navy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Navy)'s Marine Mammal Program (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Navy_Marine_Mammal_Program), based in San Diego (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego) to detain scuba divers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuba_diver). The animal carries in its mouth a cuff attached to a long rope and clamp the cuff around the person's leg who can then be reeled in.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lion#_note-2)

Personally, I find it hard to believe that it was actually a Sea Lion that did this. But there are other attacks reported, but not many. I hope that this does not bring about a mass panic and killing like it does when a Shark attacks a person.
I would have thought that it was a Leopard Seal, a much larger and aggressive marine mammal with a HISTORY (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0806_030806_sealkiller.html) of attacks on Humans.
Normally found in the Antarctic Ocean, during colder times (Australia's winter now) it does come further North.

[The Joker]

Ownage man...

So let us picture this...

Your on your surfboard( id dont think it was a surfboard if she was being pulled behind a boat , prolly a wake board)so your on your board behind the boat prolly in the V wake ....and then all of the sudden a sea Lion LAUNCHES out of the water in front of you and you and it collide and it smacks you in the head....WTF!! either something is bullshit or that lion has very very percision accurate aim!

[Big Ozzie]

....WTF!! either something is bullshit or that lion has very very percision accurate aim!
Well Joker, they are known for eating a lot of migrating fish (Salmon, etc) and there are some questions whether they are to blame for the depletion of the Pacific Northwest Fisheries.

[Big Ozzie]

Well Sarge, they are known for eating a lot of migrating fish (Salmon, etc) and there are some questions whether they are to blame for the depletion of the Pacific Northwest Fisheries.

heh? Someone call?

OMFG!!! :eek: I think I better cut back on those Pain Killers...that is twice I did that in these forums today!
Sorry Sarge!:o :1zhelp: :o

[Heero Valentine]

i would lmao if i would have seen that

seeing a girl on a wakeboard, sea lion launches out of the water and smack her on the head.
she had broken her jaw and stuff, but i mean it's still the best ownage if ever heard off :p

[Josh85]

When I was walking along the beach today with my dog I was thinking how awesome it would be to be attacked by a huge sea lion or elephant seal or whatever and have to fight it to the death with my bare hands and my dog as my only help.

My fantasies kickass.

[Raidenator]

Huh...You put a few years on her and :hitit_sml: