At a protected Cove in San Diego, signs posted around the cove tell visitors – for their own safety – not to touch or get too close to the animals. Do they obey the signs? Of course not, and recent video shows a sea lion attacking tourists who got a little too close despite being warned to keep their distance.

The footage taken at La Jolla Cove shows the animal racing out of the water and storming the packed beach where visitors retreat in fear.

“People get bit(ten) here every summer, people get charged every summer and for us locals, it’s annoying because we like and respect the wildlife here,” said Japhet Perez Estrada, the La Jolla native who took the video.

“I understand their excitement and they want to get close, but it’s nature. You got to give a distance,” Perez Estrada added.

In early July, a sea lion possibly sick from toxic red algae attacked a 14-year-old boy in the water off the coast of San Diego’s Del Mar area.

Unfortunately there is little regulation or fines for those who do not adhere to the warnings.