Seal Attacks Surfer, Terrorizes Lineup Pinniped goes on a rampage in Australia leaving one surfer in need of stitches By Dashel Pierson

Published: October 24, 2016

October 24, 2016 Views: 3,125







Seal Attacks Surfer, Terrorizes Lineup Pinniped goes on a rampage in Australia leaving one surfer in need of stitches.





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Related On Sunday afternoon, a seal attacked a surfer at Shelly Beach in Manly, Australia. The pinniped also bumped another surfer and began biting surfboards. Photo: Manly LSC

“It was swimming next to me for a few seconds,” Nathan Shepherd told the Daily Telegraph . “I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was amazing to be out with a seal. It was swimming closer to me. It swam quite fast – it jumped out of the water and bit me on the upper arm.” Photo: Manly LSC

Shelly Beach in Manly Australia -- the site of the aggressive seal encounter.



Of all the ocean-dwelling beasties,

seals and sea lions are among the least threatening. With puppy dog eyes and bristly whiskers, pinnipeds will often pop their curious heads above the water, observing surfers and swimmers, then go on their way. Compared to their toothier counterparts, the shark, the threat of an attack from a seal is inconsequential.But one Australian fur seal defied its innocuous reputation when it went on a rampage at Shelly Beach in Manly, biting one surfer and leaving him in need of stitches. Nathan Shepherd, a lawyer in the area, was surfing on Sunday afternoon when he noticed the marine mammal swimming unusually close to him.“It was swimming next to me for a few seconds,” Shepherd told the Daily Telegraph . “I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was amazing to be out with a seal. It was swimming closer to me. It swam quite fast – it jumped out of the water and bit me on the upper arm.”After the attack, Shepherd used his board as a barrier between him and the aggressive seal. He was able to get to flee the situation, but not after receiving a large puncture on his right arm. From there, he was taken to the hospital where doctors will operate and sew up the wound.But before Shepherd’s encounter, the very same seal had been terrorizing the lineup. An hour prior, the pinniped knocked a surfer off his board then sunk its teeth into his and another surfers’ boards. Tom Wallington of Bondi was the surfer who was bumped from his board.“It was coming close and it looked quite playful,” Wallington told the. “It was floating around for five minutes. It literally came from underneath me and knocked me right off the board with some pretty big force. I’ve got two big bite marks on there. It was some serious force.”Lifeguards on the beach instruct beachgoers to keep their distance from seals – although the threat of an attack from the creatures is rare, they are still wild animals. And when they feel threatened, they will try and defend themselves, which was likely the case with this particularly aggressive seal.And even though he’ll be sporting a new tooth-shaped souvenir scar from the incident, Shepherd admitted: “It was a freak occurrence.”++++++More stories by Dashel Pierson:Want breaking surf news, fresh videos, fullscreen photo galleries and more delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the Surfline weekly newsletter and 'like' our Facebook page