Sick sea lion beaten with large stick while resting on shore, California police say
A man was arrested after he was accused of attacking a sick sea lion with a stick, California police say.
As officers monitored the Ventura Beach promenade using remote cameras, they saw a man hit the beached sea lion “multiple times with a large stick,” the Ventura Police Department said in a Tuesday, March 4, Facebook post.
Officers arrived at the shoreline and detained the man as he tried to run away, according to police.
When officers searched the man, police said they found methamphetamine on him.
The 32-year-old was arrested and booked into jail on felony counts of animal cruelty and possession of a controlled substance, police said. He was also arrested on a count of “violation of federal laws protecting marine mammals.”
At the time of the attack, “the sea lion was alive but suffering from domoic acid poisoning, a naturally occurring toxin in algae that can be harmful to marine mammals,” police said.
The Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute responded to keep an eye on the sea lion’s condition, according to police.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement will look into the case on a federal level, police said.
“It is a crime under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to intentionally harass or injure sea lions,” NOAA’s Greg Busch said in the Facebook post. “We are grateful for the quick response by the Ventura Police Department and look forward to working with them and California State Parks on this investigation.”
Ventura is about a 70-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles.
What to know about domoic acid poisoning
There has been a recent uptick in the number of sea lions suffering from domoic acid poisoning found along the Southern California coast, according to a Feb. 25 Facebook post from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.
Domoic acid is produced by the algae Pseudo-nitzschia australis, according to the Marine Mammal Center.
“When conditions are right, waters off the coast of California can experience large-scale toxic algal blooms that are capable of sickening hundreds of sea lions in a matter of weeks, causing them to wash ashore at an alarming rate – sometimes a dozen a day,” according to the Marine Mammal Care Center.
Some symptoms of domoic acid poisoning are “seizures, bobbing head, erratic behavior and lethargy,” the Marine Mammal Center says.
With some domoic acid poisoning cases, the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute said it removes sea lions from the beach.
In other cases, however, the organization leaves the sea lion on the beach to “give the animal space and time to work through the acute phase of the toxin,” the organization said, adding that it continues to monitor the animal.
The organization warned those who come into contact with a “marine mammal in distress” to keep a distance of at least 50 feet.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Sick sea lion beaten with large stick while resting on shore, California police say."
