Do sea lions ever attack dogs?
Tonight I was at Salmon Bay in Seattle and my dog was fetching a ball in the water. After his first fetch a large sea lion surfaced briefly about five yards or less from where my dog had been. It then moved out of the area. I was not sure if this was a coincidence or some kind of territorial display. Much to my dog’s dismay I stopped the fetch game, fearing the sea lion might decide to get aggressive.
Years ago while fetching in a nearby fresh water canal, another dog of mine was spooked by some underwater antics by a harbor seal, which I assumed nipped his tail or something – this happened on three different occasions.
As you say, the sea lion might have acted as a territorial display, however, sea lions have been known to attack humans (for example last year a 14 year old Australian girl was attacked by a sea-lion while she was on her surfboard being towed by a boat.A wildlife expert (CALM senior wildlife officer Doug Coughran), who was asked at the time about the attack stated: “the attack was an important reminder that sea lions were aggressive, wild and powerful animals with teeth similar to a large dog.” He also stated that “Sea lion attacks were rare.” source:http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21557064-948,00.html
If a sea lion would attack a human they why wouldn’t it also attack a dog? Along the Pacific coast, sea lions have attacked swimmers, chomped bodyboards and even yanked people off boats .In Alaska, according to one news account, “19-year-old Ray Dushkin Jr. was working on his grandfather’s fishing boat in King Cove when a sea lion leaped from the water and grabbed the seat of the young man’s coveralls in its teeth. In a flash, he was pulled overboard.” (source:http://articles.latimes.com/2005/sep/15/local/me-sealion15).
During the mating season, male sea lions won’t eat, but instead choose to focus entirely on protecting their territory and females and this is possibly why your dog could be targeted for an attack.
(source:http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/sea-lion/)
This expert suggests that sea lions are aggressive during mating season, that you should make yourself aware of where sea lion colonies are in your area and avoid them (especially during their mating season :http://animal.discovery.com/tv/after-the-attack/surviving/surviving.html).
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