Megan Pagini, 13 at the time, went to the shores of Pismo Beach, California, with her friends. While she splashed through the knee-deep waves and danced around, her friends laughed and snapped goofy pictures of her.
Everything was perfect — until an unexpected guest crashed the party.
Out of nowhere and unprovoked, something swam up and lunged at Megan. At first, she had no clue what it was or what was even happening. It took her a few seconds to realize a sea lion had suddenly emerged from the ocean's surface, sunk its sharp teeth right into her thigh, and ripped out a chunk of flesh.
Megan calls the attack, which her friends captured on video, "probably the scariest thing ever." Thankfully, she was freed from the sea lion's grip and is now recovering.
Sea lion attacks on humans are very rare, and this type of attack is pretty uncharacteristic. Still, getting within about 8 feet of sea lions can be incredibly dangerous.
According to Fox News: "A wildlife officer spotted a sea lion 'behaving unusually' in the surf south of the Pismo Beach pier around 8:30 p.m., biting various objects, including a metal lifeguard tower. … Officials cannot be sure the sea lion captured was the same animal involved in the attack, but they believe 'it's most likely this one sea lion' based on reports."
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Jeff Cozad of the Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles told Inside Edition about the theory behind why this particular adult female sea lion attacked Megan at the beach.
See the scary encounter in the video clip.
