When Animals Attack

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Something scary is happening. The sea is fighting back. A recent and growing spate of sea lion attacks on humans was fishy enough, but now a whale has attacked its trainer at Sea World, Southern California's favorite aquatic amusement park.

First the sea lions, normally more likely to run like cowards than stick up for themselves, have suddenly been attacking the West Coast with a taste for human blood.In the most frightening of the recent episodes, a rogue sea lion bit 14 swimmers this month and chased 10 more out of the water at San Francisco's Aquatic Park, a sheltered lagoon near the bay. At least one victim suffered puncture wounds.

In Southern California in June, a sea lion charged several people on Manhattan Beach and bit a man before waddling into the water and swimming away. In Berkeley, a woman was hospitalized last spring after a sea lion took a chunk out of her leg.

Last year, a group of sea lions took over a Newport Beach marina and caused a vintage 50-foot yacht to capsize when they boarded it. And a lifeguard in Santa Barbara was bitten three times while swimming off El Capitan State Beach.

In Alaska, a huge sea lion jumped onto a fisherman's boat in 2004, knocked him overboard and pulled him underwater; he escaped without serious injury.Scientists are saying that one possible reason for this new behavior is toxic algae. Toxic algae is a brew of pollution and agricultural run off. This tasty treat causes brain damage in marine animals when they snack on it. The brain damage is making the sea lions crazy enough to think they can mess with us.

I bought this until I heard a killer whale attacked its trainer at Sea World. Now, it's a multi-tiered, multi-species attack.

It sounds to me like the attack was premeditated.As several hundred spectators watched, the whale and trainer plunged underwater, where Kasatka grabbed Peters by the foot and held him for less than a minute before surfacing.

When they came up, Peters tried to calm the animal by rubbing and stroking its back but it grabbed him and plunged down again for about another minute.This time without toxic algae to blame, experts say this animal has a history of violence. OK, but then why did a totally different whale do the exact same thing a few weeks ago?Koontz said a different whale dived with a trainer's foot in its mouth two or three weeks ago but obeyed commands to release the trainer and return to the side of the tank.Am I the only one who sees what's really going on here?

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