Nature Heals

SurfFuerteventura

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Sep 20, 2014
8,407
4,588
113
Ribbit
I'm not Al, but still, glad seals are attacking the scourge.

We won't do anything about them, someone has to, thank you for your public service seals!

:applause2::bowdown::applause2:
 

Autoprax

Duke status
Jan 24, 2011
68,237
22,991
113
62
Vagina Point
I bet those seals would back down it you aggressively counter attacked.

The seal pulling the little girl in is awesome.

My friend has his boat in the water and the seal stay on the dock and they are very territorial.

I want to run down the dock screaming and do a canon ball right by them.

But I'm scared. :drowning:
 

_____

Phil Edwards status
Sep 17, 2012
6,910
3,176
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Rescue centers take in dozens of pups (that would have likely died naturally) year round and keep them for several months, feed them every day while also giving them roids, 1-3 generation antibiotics and all kinds of other human drugs, and then release them back into the wild . Then they grow to adults and you've got a decent number of wild animals in the mix, several 100's of lbs (1000s for elephant seals) with a bite that can take off a limb, and they learned around age 1 yr/o to attribute humans to food and have lost at least some or all of their natural fear of them.
 
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One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,128
10,251
113
33.8N - 118.4W
A friend of mine was chased from the water by an angry seal once. It was weird because it was a crowded day but it only seemed interested in him. He waited on the beach for a while and then tried to paddle back out and it came at him again. :shrug:
 

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,990
22,531
113
PNW
When I was a teenager surfing at a point in Baja I had a sea lion pop up about 30 ft in front of me while I was waiting for a set. Being the little sh!t that I was I stood tall on my board and gave him a few barks. He raised himself out of the water, looking pissed off and much bigger than I'd realized, and then dove under, heading towards me. I scrambled for a small wave and managed to catch it and ride a ways down the line. There was an older guy, a friend of the family, still sitting out the back. The sea lion fully knocked him off his board and basically chased him in. I don't think anyone saw me antagonize the creature and I didn't admit to it until years later. The friend found it pretty hilarious in hindsight but said he probably would have strangled me had he known at the time. Apparently it dinged his board pretty good and scared the crap out of him.

I don't bark at them anymore. I put my head down and let them know they are the boss. Especially the Stellar Sea Lions. Those things are massive and grumpy.
 

rowjimmytour

Tom Curren status
Feb 7, 2009
11,534
5,832
113
54
When I was a teenager surfing at a point in Baja I had a sea lion pop up about 30 ft in front of me while I was waiting for a set. Being the little sh!t that I was I stood tall on my board and gave him a few barks. He raised himself out of the water, looking pissed off and much bigger than I'd realized, and then dove under, heading towards me. I scrambled for a small wave and managed to catch it and ride a ways down the line. There was an older guy, a friend of the family, still sitting out the back. The sea lion fully knocked him off his board and basically chased him in. I don't think anyone saw me antagonize the creature and I didn't admit to it until years later. The friend found it pretty hilarious in hindsight but said he probably would have strangled me had he known at the time. Apparently it dinged his board pretty good and scared the crap out of him.

I don't bark at them anymore. I put my head down and let them know they are the boss. Especially the Stellar Sea Lions. Those things are massive and grumpy.
Paddling back out at North of SC reef came across two otters making love:dancing:male took one look at me stopped and started chasing me away with day glow pink hard on:drowning:
 

Sharky

Phil Edwards status
Feb 25, 2006
6,829
9,062
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I had one come at me. To the point where I was ramming him with the nose of my board. It was fairly tense. We eventually worked it out after that. He would pop up and mad dog me and if I met his gaze he was back in and at me. If I didn't meet his gaze and looked away from him, he went about his business and I went about mine. I've had the same thing happen with drunk assholes in a bar. Hit the ignore button. It's not fool proof, but it works at least some of the time.
 
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crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
9,084
5,174
113
A friend of mine was chased from the water by an angry seal once. It was weird because it was a crowded day but it only seemed interested in him. He waited on the beach for a while and then tried to paddle back out and it came at him again. :shrug:
i've had a couple of interesting interactions with seals over the years

one time out at Islas Los Coronados me and my buddies wife swam from the boat to a beach where a bunch (maybe 60?) of seals were sunning themselves and waded up to where it was knee deep. a whole bunch of pups, maybe 6, saw us and started humping over the sand towards us as fast as they could barking at us with what any dog owner understands as "I want to PLAY!!!". they got about halfway down to us before big-mama let out one big angry "NO!!!" bark and all the little pups turned around and hustled straight back to her. so we started heading back, doing a bit of snorkling along the shore and when we got out to about 10' deep water i came up to talk to Kim about something I saw and noticed that there were about a 10 sleek adult seals in a perfect 360 degree 20' radius circle spaced perfectly equidistant from each other around the circumference all with their heads up out of the water staring straight at Kim and I in the center of the circle. definitely got the feeling that the guards were giving us a decidedly unfriendly escort out of their territory. i guess it could have just been individual curiosity that ended up arranging itself in a circle? i don't know. do seal pods cooperate to protect territory? i wasn't aware they were *that* socially structured, but it sure looked that way at the time.

another time free diving had a seal outside of children's cove engage me in a game of hide and seek. or at least that's what it seemed like he was doing and i had a blast chasing him around the rocks under the water until i ran out of air then i'd go up, breath for a bit, while he darted around underneath me just like a dog saying "let's play" and i go back down and chase him around some more. that was so cool!!!! until he swam up and bit me! he started at the calf and them just chomped his way right up to my thigh. but here's the thing... he bit me just like a dog bites you when its playing - just clamping down but not breaking skin... good thing because i got a good closeup look at those fangs and they could do some serious damage! crusty din wanna play no more after that.

both of those stories ended up with me, dive knife in hand, ready to fight, knowing i was going to lose (and lose badly in the first situation) if attacked

1658773587409.png
 
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abalone

Michael Peterson status
Jan 16, 2002
3,229
271
83
I was chased out of the ocean by an angry sea lion, and I was just swimming peacefully inside the buoy line at Capitola, a nice, friendly spot. Sea lion reared up and showed 1/3 of its torso, moving closer and closer. I did my best water polo eggbeater, making myself as big as possible (wrong thing to do?) while splashing and slowly moving backward. Then it went below the surface and that freaked me out more, no idea where it was or what it was planning. I swam straight to shore, gave it its space back.

I mean, don't they read the signs?
ONLY SWIMMERS INSIDE THE BUOY LINE
:drowning:
 

youcantbeserious

Billy Hamilton status
Oct 29, 2020
1,518
4,579
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Location location
Been chased out of the water at Port Hueneme, way down south of the pier, by angry seal lions, and been harassed in the most terrifying way by them when paddling around Pt. Dume. Do not recommend.

As far as the Hawaiian monk seals, they can get very aggressive and territorial in pupping season, they are huge, they smell terrible, and their bark is loud as hell. My understanding is this lady was warned away several times, then ignored the ropes cordoning off the area. Hawaiian monk seals are highly endangered and they need their space. So fuck her.
 
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One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,128
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33.8N - 118.4W
i've had a couple of interesting interactions with seals over the years

one time out at Islas Los Coronados me and my buddies wife swam from the boat to a beach where a bunch (maybe 60?) of seals were sunning themselves and waded up to where it was knee deep. a whole bunch of pups, maybe 6, saw us and started humping over the sand towards us as fast as they could barking at us with what any dog owner understands as "I want to PLAY!!!". they got about halfway down to us before big-mama let out one big angry "NO!!!" bark and all the little pups turned around and hustled straight back to her. so we started heading back, doing a bit of snorkling along the shore and when we got out to about 10' deep water i came up to talk to Kim about something I saw and noticed that there were about a 10 sleek adult seals in a perfect 360 degree 20' radius circle spaced perfectly equidistant from each other around the circumference all with their heads up out of the water staring straight at Kim and I in the center of the circle. definitely got the feeling that the guards were giving us a decidedly unfriendly escort out of their territory. i guess it could have just been individual curiosity that ended up arranging itself in a circle? i don't know. do seal pods cooperate to protect territory? i wasn't aware they were *that* socially structured, but it sure looked that way at the time.

another time free diving had a seal outside of children's cove engage me in a game of hide and seek. or at least that's what it seemed like he was doing and i had a blast chasing him around the rocks under the water until i ran out of air then i'd go up, breath for a bit, while he darted around underneath me just like a dog saying "let's play" and i go back down and chase him around some more. that was so cool!!!! until he swam up and bit me! he started at the calf and them just chomped his way right up to my thigh. but here's the thing... he bit me just like a dog bites you when its playing - just clamping down but not breaking skin... good thing because i got a good closeup look at those fangs and they could do some serious damage! crusty din wanna play no more after that.

both of those stories ended up with me, dive knife in hand, ready to fight, knowing i was going to lose (and lose badly in the first situation) if attacked

View attachment 134594
Cool. They do have cooperative community behavior. I learned that one night while we were moored in King Harbor. It was really quiet and calm. The seals were sleeping in a group, on thier backs, flippers in the air. Then we noticed there was always one swimming a circle around the group, ostensibly keeping guard. Every now and then the one swimming would go and wake another and they would switch. We were kind of blown away at this behavior. It seemed...intelligent.
 
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