Sometimes a video shows someone doing something so ill-considered that it leaves viewers wondering how the person made it out of the situation uninjured — as was the case with footage of a tourist effectively picking a fight with a sea lion instead of enjoying a peaceful vacation.
The reel shared by the Tourons of National Parks (@touronsofnationalparks) Instagram account prompted strong criticism of the subject's decision-making.
The video shows a man spotting a sea lion at the boat launch of a marina. Instead of leaving the animal in peace, he goes up to terrorize it, egged on by voices off-camera. Lunging at the creature, raising a balled fist, and then trying to tackle the animal, the tourist jokingly appears to instigate a fight.
Luckily, for his sake, the sea lion only squares up to him without doing serious damage. However, sea lion attacks have been on the rise in certain areas, according to CNN, and people have reported bites and uncharacteristic aggression that the news report attributed to toxic algae impacting the sea creatures.
Sadly, the encounter in the video is far from the first time that tourists have provoked wild animals. Videos of them aggravating elk, taunting bison, and getting charged at by oryx antelopes have gone viral, with many commenters criticizing the subjects for their thoughtless, dangerous, and cruel behavior.
Wild animals are not living their lives to entertain humans, and the audacity to try to harass a sea lion for no reason is dangerous. Not only is the tourist in the video causing stress to the animal, but he is also putting both himself and the sea lion at risk of harm. Wild animals can be euthanized if they attack people, whether they were provoked or not.
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Instagram users flooded the comments with extreme distaste for the man's actions.
"Those things can DESTROY you!" one person remarked.
"Alcohol was definitely involved," another added.
"They kill sharks," a commenter warned. "Stop messing with nature unless it messes with you."
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