Grieving Sea Lion Sheds Tears Over Premature Baby, Mother Stays With Deceased Pup Over Night

A mother sea lion gave birth to still born pup on a San Diego, California, beach. Spectators filming the event were devastated to witness the mother grieving over the loss of her child, shedding real tears and wailing out in distress as she mourned her dead pup.

The heart breaking video clearly shows the mother grieving her baby sea lion as she attempts to wake her newborn up after giving birth. According to Metro, the sea lion would not leave the baby’s side overnight, hoping the premature pup would eventually wake up.

Else Hahn, a spectator that recorded the heart wrenching event, hopes the video will draw attention to the incident and bring awareness.

“She’s still with her baby. Still with her sweet baby. All I can do is to draw attention to this, sweetheart.”

The video, as heart breaking as it may be, has gone viral across social media. The distressed mother sea lion is shown attempting to wake her newborn pup up, wailing out in what seems to be grievous screams. It is unknown whether she was really grieving or if it is a matter of perception, humanizing the sea lion in the situation where her pup was still born.

Watch the video below and share your thoughts on what is happening.

Hahn warns that human interaction with wildlife on the beaches has caused similar situations before, resulting in stillborn births due to the stress that is forced onto the mothers, according to the Mirror. She feels that the video should be a wake up call to everyone that tries to intervene, even if only for a quick video.

“This heart breaking video, showing a sea lion who lost her baby, should be a waking call to us all.”

In some instances, where the babies are not still born, the mothers simply abandon the pups in an attempt to get away from the humans and the stress they bring forth, thus leaving the babies to die on the beaches. The issue is becoming all too common on the Pacific beaches, and animal activists are hoping to get the message across so tourists and other visitors are informed enough to leave the animals alone and let them go about their own business.

Hahn hopes the video will show the true emotion that occurs when an animal loses a child.

“We humans have a tendency to think that we are the only animal who grieves the loss of a son or daughter.”

This time of year brings thousands of sea lions to the shores to give birth to their pups. Although the video only shows one example of a grieving mother, there are more out there that could be facing similar bouts of grief after losing their children to premature births or abandon.

The sad video does have some skeptics, claiming the stillborn birth may be due to a sickness within the mother. Sandra Davies thinks the mother might have a severe infection, but admits it is sad nonetheless.

“Wet eyes could indicate a severe infection which could have led to her giving birth prematurely.

“Sadly, it still feels as though she is asking for help to get her baby to live.”

The internet is filled with videos showing baby animals and their mothers portraying human like qualities. Many with the mother and child embraced in a caring caress or playing joyfully in the wild. The evidence seems to show that the love of mother and child is universal, regardless of species involved. Yet, it is important to note the wild animals are quite different from humans and the interactions cannot be fully proven to be the same as human interaction.

What are your thoughts on the video?

[Image via Oleg Znamensky/Shutterstock]