Watch: Pelican Barely Escapes Long Beach Salty Dog

Not too many hours ago, Diego the dog was protecting the turf of his human companion at Long Beach Harbor's floating live bait cages - from a real big mouth.

This video, taken by Phil Friedman Outdoors this past weekend, is not for the squeamish, but like any tense or scary movie, it helps to know that the ending could have been much worse.

As blogger Pete Thomas of Pete Thomas Outdoors writes:

"Clearly, the pelican in the accompanying video had seen better days, and it's safe to assume that many people will find this raw scene to be disturbing. It was videotaped over the weekend by Phil Friedman, who had chartered the Toronado for a night of fishing outside Long Beach Harbor.

It shows a brown pelican that invaded the harbor's bait-receiver, only to become trapped beneath netting while the resident dog launched a prolonged assault from above .... Ultimately, the pelican scurried to an uncovered portion of the receiver, whereupon it was abruptly scooped up with a long bait net and flung into the harbor.

"As strange and unsettling as it may be to watch this video, it reveals a slice of life in the harbor. The bait receiver is manned by a person whose dog keeps him company. The dog regards the dock as its territory, and the pelican as an invader."

To read more from both bloggers, click here for Friedman and here for Thomas.