A youngster was attacked by a sea lion in Southern California whereas she was attempting out to change into a junior lifeguard cadet.

Phoebe Beltran, 15, has a number of cuts on her proper arm and was hospitalized following the confrontation with the animal on Sunday in Lengthy Seashore, about 24 miles south of Los Angeles.

Though she has since been launched from the hospital and was properly sufficient to return to highschool, she mentioned the assault left her shaken up.

“I’ve been stung by a sting ray, pinched by crabs, bitten by tiny fish,” Phoebe mentioned. “However a sea lion?”

The lady mentioned she was within the water about 25 toes from shore throughout her junior lifeguard tryout. She was within the homestretch of her 1,000-yard swim when she all of a sudden felt an intense ache.

That’s when a sea lion bit into her proper arm, leaving her with chew marks and bruises, she mentioned.

“At first, I simply assumed the worst, like a shark,” she mentioned. “I’m getting attacked, it must be a shark. After which I’m like, ‘Please, don’t chew my arm off. Please don’t kill me. Please don’t let me remorse attempting out.’”

She recalled initially being afraid to see what was biting her.

“The primary chew — I went below, and I simply see the shadow, however I couldn’t make out what it was,” Phoebe mentioned. “As I got here up, I used to be means too scared to face it head-on. I’m screaming this manner because it’s biting me over right here and it lastly let go.”

After yelling for assist, {the teenager} was in a position to get to the sand as a staff of lifeguards and her mom ran to her assist. She was then rushed to the emergency room.

“In my 25 years of service, I’ve by no means heard of one thing like this occur earlier than,” Gonzalo Medina, of the Lengthy Seashore Hearth Division, mentioned.

Sea lion sightings in Lengthy Seashore are frequent, however assaults are uncommon. Circumstances of sea lions sickened by poisonous algae blooms have elevated throughout Southern California, however it’s unclear if the animal that attacked Phoebe was unwell.

“Definitely a aspect impact of the acid is probably aggressive conduct, however there’s no method to inform,” Medina mentioned. “What we do know is the ocean lion was very agile, very quick.”

It’s unclear what occurred to the animal, because it swam off shortly.

Regardless of her scary encounter and the unease that got here with it, Phoebe mentioned she’s decided to get again within the water and redo her tryout.