An 11-year-old boy was recovering today after a sea lion
mauled him at a popular Sydney zoo's aquarium show as
horrified visitors looked on.
The boy, identified by his stepmother as Jack Lister, had
been invited by zookeepers to meet the 8-year-old female sea
lion during the Taronga Zoo's seal and sea lion show
yesterday. After feeding the animal, Jack mistakenly followed
it off the stage, which spooked it, zoo officials said.
The sea lion bit the boy and left several puncture wounds on
his stomach. Jack had abdominal surgery last night and
was in stable condition at a hospital.
Jack's stepmother, Dalitta Wright, told Sydney's The Daily
Telegraph the attack was sudden.
"I can only assume he was going for the smell of the fish.
Jack pulled himself away and it then lunged for his back,"
said Wright, whose family was visiting Sydney from the
northeast city of Cairns. "It all happened so quickly. ... It
was quite traumatic."
Zoo officials said the sea lion had never shown aggressive
behavior before, and they were investigating the attack. The
seal show was scheduled to continue today, without the
"encounter" portion of the programme - and without the sea
lion involved in the attack.
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