As though it wasn’t bad enough to get dunked in the drink by a murderous sea lion, that poor Canadian girl whose maritime misadventure was broadcast around the world on Saturday is now being treated for something called “seal finger”.
Seal finger?!
Yep, it’s a thing – seals and sea lions carry a bunch of bacteria that us land-lubbers have little to no experience of, which means that copping a bite from them can cause weird shit to happen in your body.
“Seal finger” is caused by the bacteria present in the mouths of sea lions. https://t.co/EBBwy1BGLm
— Cary R Allen-Blevins (@Curiouser_CRAB) May 25, 2017
As if this wasn’t bad enough: “untreated severe infections can lead to loss of fingers or limbs” o_O https://t.co/Q65wikigoq
— Tom Megginson (@CreativeTweets) May 24, 2017
Sheesh! Seals don’t play https://t.co/MFpxBvgFBG
— Queen of the L’s (@RadiantIdania) May 25, 2017
Apparently that weird shit includes making the bitten area swell up so much that it looks “inflated”, which, gross. It’s called seal finger because that’s where most people who get bitten by seals and sea lions (i.e. trainers, handlers, biologists and vets) are injured.
(And also because it’s a hilarious name. Probably.)
Fortunately seal finger is way easier to treat now than it was back in the day, and the seal-snatched girl’s treatment is more preventative than anything else.
Still, it’s probably best if we all agreed to move 100km+ inland from the coast anyway. Just to be totally safe.
Source: Twitter / NBC.
Image: Twitter.
