California beachgoers were left screaming and crying after being attacked by a protective sea lion.
Lauren Bertrand was visiting La Jolla Cove in San Diego on June 23 when she captured the images of the angry sea lion.
Bertrand’s video first went viral on TikTok last month before resurfacing on YouTube this week.
Before attacking the bathers, the marine mammal was swimming in the area with its young, whom Bertrand also saw.
The sea lion almost came face to face with a swimmer before swimming away, leaving the humans unharmed.
Lauren Bertrand was visiting La Jolla Cove in San Diego on June 23 when she captured footage of an angry, protective sea lion.
The sea lion was with her pups before walking ashore and then attacking bathers.
Bertrand took the video while sitting near the lifeguard station.
She saw the sea lion and said it “looked like a rock.”
Bertrand and an unidentified onlooker saw the pups swimming and were shocked to see how big they were.
“There goes your shot,” the spectator said after the sea lion slowly made its way toward shore.
Other passers-by in the seating area couldn’t stop staring at the animal, while sunbathers on the sand took photos with their phones.
The marine mammal rushed into the water and frightened a child who fell in.
She and another young woman who was near the sea lion fled the scene while a group of bathers simply watched the animal move away.
Bertrand took the video while standing in a seating area near the lifeguard station with an unidentified woman.
Bertrand thought the sea lion “looked like a rock” when he first saw it away from the bathers.
The incident comes three months after an Instagram user known as @salissav captured video of a man and his two young children getting dangerously close to a sea lion in La Jolla Cove.
“He was a complete idiot. Even after the sea lion made an aggressive move towards his pup, he kept trying to get more photos,” the Instagram user wrote in the video’s description.
“If you’re wondering why I didn’t intervene, I was too far away from this person for them to hear me over the noise of the ocean, seabirds and other people.”
Another sea lion attack incident at La Jolla Cove was captured on video last year by Japhet Perez Estrada.
The sea lion ran out of the water and attacked tourists who were near the shore.
“People here get bitten every summer, people get attacked every summer, and for us locals, it’s upsetting because we like and respect the wildlife here,” Perez said at the time.
“I understand that they are excited and want to get closer, but that’s nature. You have to give them distance.”
Pupping season typically runs from early May to late October. Sea lions use this period to bond, nurse and teach their pups how to swim.
Human interactions with sea lions and their pups could trigger aggressive behavior from the adult marine mammals, according to the City of San Diego’s Animal Conservation Department. website.
These interactions with a mother and her pups “could result in injury or abandonment of the sea lion pups.”
Pupping season typically runs from early May to late October, and sea lions use this time to bond, nurse, and teach their babies to swim.
Sea lions frequent California beaches, and signs at sites warn visitors not to approach them if they see one.
The signs also indicate that sea lions bite, attack when agitated and warn that it is illegal to harass them.