AR-News: Sea Lion Grabs Fisherman Off Boat

[jim robertson]

Sea Lion Grabs Fisherman Off Boat

POSTED: 4:43 pm PST March 12, 2004

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A 19-year-old fisherman is recovering from an encounter 
with a sea lion that leaped out of the water, grabbed him as he worked on 
his grandfather's docked boat and pulled him into the harbor at King Cove.



Not weird enough? Read more weird news.

  Sign Up To Receive Our Daily Weird Email




"It happened so fast, I forgot what I was doing," said Ray Dushkin Jr., who 
was not seriously injured in the abduction Tuesday.

Dushkin spent a few moments beneath the water's surface before the hefty 
animal let go. Dushkin's left buttock sports an inch-and-a-half scrape, but 
no bite mark, he said. His coveralls were torn through, as were the pants 
worn beneath them.

About 4:30 p.m., Ray Dushkin Sr. was standing on the top of the bridge and 
asked his son to hand him the hatch. Young Dushkin was standing two feet 
from the edge of the boat. Several sea lions were in the area.

"The sea lion was just swimming around the boat like they do always when the 
boats are delivering fish," Ray Sr. said. And just like that, the creature - 
estimated about 12 feet long and between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds - leaped a 
half dozen or more feet out of the water and grabbed his son.

"He went over like a rag doll," the father told the Anchorage Daily News. 
"The only thing I was thinking is, that sea lion was taking off with my boy, 
and I'll never see him again."

Then the sea lion let the young man go. Ray Sr. helped Ray Jr. climb aboard 
the boat.

The younger Dushkin was examined at the local clinic and given antibiotics.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.

_________________________________________________________________
Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee when you click here. 
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963