Steveston sea lion attack goes viral
SFU student who captured harrowing moments on film says response has ‘been crazy’
While millions of people around the world watched a chilling video of a sea lion pulling a young girl into the Fraser River on Saturday, the victim and her family remain elusive.
Michael Fujiwara, a 23-year-old engineering student at Simon Fraser University, has not slept since Saturday afternoon when he witnessed the attack on a young girl sitting on a Steveston wharf. He had pulled his phone out to shoot a video of the sea lion while a family tossed it pieces of bread.
About two minutes after he began filming, the sea lion burst out of the water, grabbed the white dress of the girl and pulled her backwards into the murky water. Inside a matter of seconds, the child was pulled under water and a man, presumed to be the girl’s grandfather, had jumped in and grabbed her. They were both pulled out of the water by people on the dock.
Since Fujiwara posted the video to YouTube late Saturday, it has garnered more 13.6 million views. The story has ran on news outlets around the world — India, Australia, People magazine, National Geographic’s website, The Guardian, the New York Post and Washington Post.
“It’s been crazy,” Fujiwara said Monday.
He has reached out to the family on social media but hasn’t been able to find them. They were Chinese-speaking and left within seconds of the pair being pulled from the water.
“I haven’t been able to get in touch with them. No one has a clue as to who they are or whether they live here or not,” Fujiwara said. “People are thinking that they may be hiding, that they don’t want the attention now.”
The family’s actions — feeding it and hanging over the wharf trying to get the animal’s attention — have garnered criticism, including from marine mammal experts. On Monday a sea lion was back in the area looking for handouts. Signs warned against feeding them.
Andrew Trites, director of the University of British Columbia’s Marine Mammal Research Unit, told the CBC that getting close to wild animals is “stupid.”
“My first reaction to the video is just how stupid some people can be to not treat wildlife with proper respect,” he said, adding later: “They are not circus performers. They’re not trained to be next to people.”
Trites said the California sea lion may have thought the girl’s clothes were food.
Bob Baziuk, general manager of the Steveston Harbour Authority, said watching the video made his stomach turn.
“It’s an unfortunate incident, first and foremost. I hope the little girl’s OK,” he said. “But we’ve been trying to get that message out for years and years — don’t feed the animals. You’re just asking for trouble when you do that.”
California sea lions often visit the area on their migratory cycle, hoping for handouts from fishermen, but signs are posted warning people not to feed any of the animals, Baziuk said.
“It’s kind of staggering and it’s a really unfortunate incident. But it happened and now that video is the poster child for why you don’t (feed the sea lions),” he said.
Danielle Hyson, a senior marine mammal trainer at the Vancouver Aquarium, urged the family to come forward to receive advice on a treatment of antibiotics if they received any bites or puncture wounds from the sea lion. She also warned that feeding wild animals is simply dangerous.
“The more and more we feed wild animals, the more and more we’re putting ourselves at risk for those situations,” she said. It’s a reminder to just leave wild animals be, she said, adding there are “definitely” more of these encounters now than in years past.
Fujiwara recalls the family crowding the animal “because they thought it was just this adorable thing.” Seconds later the girl was in the water.
“I just hope that the girl is OK,” he said. “I know they are shaken up.”
But he believes everyone has learned a valuable lesson.
“It’s about wild animals and how dangerous they can be. They are unpredictable. I just hope that everyone got something out of the video,” Fujiwara said.