'Aggressive' Sea Lion Attacks Close South Orange County Beaches

DANA POINT, CA — Sea lions have been attacking people at the beach in Orange County, KTLA reported, and marine wildlife experts believe the mammals may be acting aggressively after being sickened by poisonous algal blooms.

The attacks prompted health officials to close Strands and Salt Creek beaches on Tuesday, June 27. As of Wednesday, the beaches were reopened with signage warning visitors about an aggressive sea lion in the area, according to the report.

According to the Orange County Register, an attack was reported late Monday afternoon after two beachgoers told lifeguards that a sea lion had attacked them at Strands Beach. Lifeguards received another report of a sea lion acting aggressively at the northern Salt Creek Breach, the report said.

The aggressive behavior could be caused by a toxic algae bloom that has spread down the California Coast from San Luis Obispo County has been harming more than 1,000 sea lions and dolphins.

The massive bloom was produced by a species of marine plankton fueled with a toxin called domoic acid. It has been spreading across the waters of the California Coast, as well as sickening and killing the more than 1,000 sea lions and dolphins that have eaten the infected plankton, according to previous reports.

“We’ve actually seen a number of surfers in the water that have been bit by sea lions and those sea lions are more likely to be sea lions that have had a seizure and are completely unaware of their surroundings, just erratically swimming and then they bump into somebody and bit somebody,” Dr. Alissa Deming of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center told KTLA.