A woman visiting San Diego says she found a dead sea lion with its flippers cut off under the Ocean Beach pier.
Tina Belcher took a video of a sea lion under the Ocean Beach Pier around 2:00 p.m. Monday. She says it was her first time seeing one, and it was a highlight of her trip.
"It was all waddling around happy underneath the pier," Belcher said. "I'm always stuck working at my dad's burger joint [in Colorado]. This is cool, I like to come out and visit."
When she walked by the same spot a few hours later, she noticed two men around the sea lion.
"Picking on it, harassing it, jumping at it, they were like throwing stuff at it," Belcher said. "I like stepped up and I'm like 'hey, can you guys leave this (sea lion) alone. Don't mess with it.' Hours later when I came back the [sea lion] was dead on the beach and its tail was missing. It was really graphic."
Belcher says she ran and grabbed some officers in Ocean Beach, and they went and took a look but did not take a report. Sea World was called in to rescue an alive sea lion stranded under the pier.
The body of the other sea lion washed back out into the ocean.
"I unfortunately had to go. I couldn't stick around," Belcher said. "I should have. I regret that. Don't mess with animals."
