Shakira has revealed that she was recently attacked by a sea lion. The Colombian singer, who was visiting Cape Town in South Africa last weekend when the incident occurred, said that she was trying to take photographs of some seals and sea lions with her BlackBerry phone when one of them tried to bite her.
Shakira wrote on her Facebook page: “I happened to see some sea lions and seals. I thought to myself how cute they were, so I decided to get a bit closer than all of the other tourists and went down to a rock trying to pet them... Suddenly, one of them jumped out of the water so fast and impetuously that it got about one foot away from me, looked me in the eye, roared in fury and tried to bite me. Everyone there screamed, including me. I was paralysed by fear and couldn’t move, I just kept eye contact with it while my brother ‘Super Tony’ jumped over me and literally saved my life, taking me away from the beast.” Shakira also posted a picture of a cut on her hand, which she hurt on the rocks while trying to get away from the animal. She later said that she thought the sea lion lunged at her because it was drawn to the sunlight reflecting off her phone. “I believe what happened is that it confused the shiny reflection of the BlackBerry I was taking these pics with, with some sort of fish,” she wrote. “It probably thought I was teasing it with food and then taking it away from it.” –DS