Sea lions are attacking people in the waters off California’s coast. They’re being poisoned by the ocean they live in, experts say

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1. Along some 70 miles of Southern California coastline, usually curious and playful sea lions are attacking humans in the water. The animals are being [poisoned by the ocean they live in](https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/06/climate/sea-lion-attacks-california/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit), experts say, citing reports of sick sea lions at unprecedented levels. And many are dying.

   Pheobe Beltran, a 15-year-old girl in Long Beach, was swimming on March 30, when a sea lion attacked her right arm. Beltran’s arm is covered in bites, bruises and scratches, but she didn’t require stitches, she said.

   Up the coast in Ventura County on March 21, a surfer near Oxnard, was bitten by a sea lion in open water. The attack left him “shaken” to his core, he said.

   The sea lion “erupted from the water, hurtling toward” RJ LaMendola at top speed – its “expression was feral, almost demonic, devoid of the curiosity or playfulness I’d always associated with sea lions,” LaMendola wrote on social media of the “harrowing and traumatic experience” that included the sea lion stalking him all the way back to shore.

   The cause is less demonic and more likely domoic acid toxicosis caused by toxic algal bloom, often referred to as red tide, experts say. Dolphins also have been affected. The toxin, domoic acid, is naturally present in the Pacific Ocean. A process called upwelling is responsible for pushing the acid into the aquatic food chain.

   Human-caused climate change and land development are making unwanted changes to the ecosystem and feeding the outsized toxic algal blooms, according to John Warner, CEO of the Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles.

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