STORM2K

Man,it's not easy being a surfer in Australia.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian teenager was lucky to be alive on Sunday after she survived being mauled by a massive sea lion while surfing.


Ella Murphy was attacked by the creature, thought to weigh about 300 kilograms (660 pounds), as she stood on a surfboard being towed behind a boat on Saturday.

The animal was close to charging the 13-year-old girl a second time as she floundered in the water off the coast of the small town of Lancelin in Western Australia when she was rescued by the driver of the boat, Chris Thomas.

"You can only describe it as like a white pointer (shark) jumping out of the water," he told News Limited newspapers.

"It was really sort of movie-like. This thing just exploded in a full-on, frontal attack.

"It actually lined her up. It jumped out of the water at her and hit her head-on. It must have been travelling at an enormous speed.

"It opened its mouth and grabbed her head. It latched on."

Thomas manoeuvred his boat between the sea lion and the girl to prevent a second mauling.

"It was going back for her, it was looking for her and it spotted her," he said. "I had this horrible feeling I was not going to make it back in time."

Ella, who suffered a broken jaw and lost three teeth in the attack, was in a stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital late Saturday.

Her mother, Michelle Forbes, said her daughter had a gash under her chin which was "quite close to her carotid artery."

"We could have lost her," she said.

Sea lions are a protected species and it is thought that environmental officers will attempt to move it into another area rather than kill it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070415/sc ... 0415050100

Happens when humans enter the territory of animals.

Yarrah wrote:Happens when humans enter the territory of animals.

Could you explain your comment further. Did I miss something in the article that said she was in a protected area or something. My impression of your statement is that you think humans should stay out of the water.

The article doesn't mention if this is a protected area or not, but one can conclude that this was the sea lions territory. Since it's known that sea-lions are very territorial, accidents like this can be expected.

I'm not saying we should just stay out of the water, I'm saying that we should be aware of the risks when entering another creature's territory, especially when they're dangerous and known to be territorial.

BTW, other articles are saying that the sea lion saw the girl as a ragg-doll it could play with. You don't often see animals playing with the lives of humans.

I appreciate the clarification.

Western Australian waters are not protected. The coastline is to large to be able to do it

I used to scoff at the name sea lion since they look and sound more like dogs, but they are aggressive.

Just thank God that it was not a Great White Shark,Australian waters are full of them!!!!Me swim there!!!!Not for a Million Bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!