Aggressive sea lion attacks 15-year-old girl in Southern California waters

Sudden aggressiveness of the marine mammal that bit Phoebe Beltran, a 15-year-old Californian, may be due to toxic algae.

15-year-old girl attacked by sea lion in California

(Annie Otzen/Getty Images) (LOS ANGELES) — Phoebe Beltran, 15, has always been a “water baby,” according to her mom, Bibi Beltran. She has always had a love for swimming, she told ABC News, which was why she decided to participate in a junior lifeguard cadet program in Long Beach, California, on March 30. In the middle of competing in the 1,000-yard swim test, she felt pain in her right arm. “My initial reaction was, ‘I’m getting eaten in the mi…

Family recounts sea lion attack in Long Beach linked to toxic algae poisoning

“She’s got this. She’s a swimmer in water polo, this is a walk in the park for her,” Bibi Beltran, 52, told her husband Sunday afternoon on March 30, as the pair watched their 15-year-old daughter Phoebe swim a 1,000-yard lap at a junior lifeguard cadet tryout in Long Beach. Her comment was cut short by two loud, excruciating screams coming from the water near the area of Ocean Boulevard and Cherry Avenue, in front of the Long Beach Lifeguards H…

15-year-old bitten by sea lion while training for junior lifeguard position

The 15-year-old was training to become a junior lifeguard in Long Beach at the time.

California teen feared she was bitten by shark — but it was something far rarer: ‘I’ve never heard of something like this’

California teenager Phoebe Beltran has revealed how she thought a shark was attacking her after she felt something pull her under the water -- but it turned out to be something very different.

‘Please don’t kill me’: Sea lion attacks teenager taking lifeguard exam

A sea lion attacked a teenager who was taking a test to become a lifeguard.