ShareThisBy JANE KAY
Monday, November 20, 2006
A California sea lion lurking in San Francisco's Aquatic Park Lagoon is terrorizing swimmers, biting at least 14 on the legs and chasing 10 others out of the water this week.
No one has been seriously hurt, but the surprised victims have been advised by Marine Mammal Center staff to take antibiotics to ward off infection. San Francisco Department of Public Health physicians aren't recommending rabies shots.
Biologists are at a loss to explain the eccentric behavior that has forced the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park to close the lagoon to swimmers until the marauding mammal moves on. Experts say the animal could be protecting his harem of mates or might have brain damage from toxic algae.
The creature from the Aquatic Park Lagoon hangs about the shore, keeping an eye out for swimmers. When they go into the water, it moves under them, first brushing their legs. Then the nipping and biting start.
Celeste McMullin, one of the swimmers bitten Monday, saw the sea lion near the shore before her swim but didn't think much of it.
"I was swimming along, and I felt a brush under my feet. And I thought, 'These feel like whiskers.' So I stopped, and the animal popped up. He/she looked at me."
McMullin, an Oakland resident and member of the Dolphin Club swim group, had a decision to make _ keep on swimming or go to shore.
"I decided I'd head to shore. Then it started bumping and biting in earnest."
McMullin, who was about a quarter of a mile from the shore, tried to climb onto a nearby boat but couldn't get over a rail. When she plopped back into the water, the sea lion was waiting for her. "I was really scared," she said.
With nobody around to help her, McMullin swam as fast as she could back to shore, the sea lion biting her all the way. She said she kept yelling "Stop it," as if that would do any good.
When she got out of the water, blood running down her leg, a fellow swimmer said he had watched the surprising scene from shore. McMullin had six bites: two puncture wounds and four cuts.
She went to California Pacific Medical Center, where a second Dolphin Club member, Andy Stone, came in with a bite on his foot.
"The nurses were laughing. Everyone was laughing. I was laughing," McMullin said.
A third Dolphin Club member, Omar Thompson, had been bitten on the back of the leg earlier Monday. Another, John Mervin, was bumped by the sea lion that same day, club officials said.
"I've been swimming here for 70 years almost, and nothing like this has happened before," said Lou Marcelli, the commodore of the Dolphin Club, which is based at Aquatic Park.
