Sea lion filmed snatching little girl and dragging her into water

The terrifying moment a sea lion snatches a little girl and drags her into the water at a fisherman's wharf in Canada has been captured on camera.

The dramatic video, which has had 6.5 millions views on YouTube, shows the incident came seconds after the girl had been warned of getting too close to the edge as her family fed the wild mammal breadcrumbs.

The youngster is filmed shrieking with excitement as the sea lion climbs from the water to within inches of her.

Despite someone off camera warning "careful", she is allowed to remain on the water edge and with her back turned the sea lion pounces.

The animal is seen launching itself from the water and snapping the youngster's dress, pulling her off the wharf and into the water.

An adult dives in after her amid cries of anguish before the girl is quickly lifted up out of the water with the sea lion apparently fled.

The rescuer is pulled up by helpers with his sunglasses left floating in the murky brown water below.

The girl, her clothes drenched, is seen being led away unharmed but in shock.

The man who filmed the incident, student Michael Fujiwara, said the sighting of the sea lion had attracted a large number of people to the wharf edge.

"Huge crowds just started gathering around me," he said.

"A young girl came along with her family and they started feeding the animal, just breadcrumbs, and they were getting a little too close to the animal."

He said more than a million people had viewed the video overnight after he posted it online, assured that the girl was not harm.

"There were no injuries or anything, everything was good," Mr Fujiwara said. "But everyone was pretty shocked."

The dramatic incident occurred at Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf in Richmond, British Columbia.

New signs have been added to remind visitors not to feed the marine wildlife, which are attracted to boats for fish scraps.