The sea lion pup had already had a bad day. Hours earlier, police officers had carefully pulled it out of a storm drain on another beach in Laguna Beach, California. That same afternoon, it would end up dead on the sand.
Mark Kelly’s daughter was walking Shiner, a 65-pound American bulldog mix, when the dog broke free from its leash and lunged at the stranded animal on Goff Island.
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Several women who were nearby tried to pull him away, but they couldn’t. Mark Kelly came running and managed to grab him by the collar, although by then the damage had already been done.
Laguna Beach police reviewed the case and decided not to file charges: according to authorities, the dog was properly secured to its leash in an area where that was legal. The Los Angeles Animal Humane Society described what happened as regrettable and traumatic, both for the sea lion and for the people who witnessed the attack without being able to stop it in time.