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Stand up and cheer for Oscar winner MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, who came splashing out of the Malibu surf in his black wetsuit after spotting six late-teen kids harassing a baby seal that had beached itself, cruelly poking the sea creature with their feet – and a stick!
Bellowed Matthew: “BACK OFF – and I’m not going to ask you a second time!”
Stunned at realizing the guy rousting them was the star of “Dallas Buyers Club,” the teens listened open-mouthed as he harangued them with a long lecture on respecting wildlife.
Said an eyewitness: “Matthew told the kids the seal wasn’t hurt, it was resting and sunning itself – and that young pups do this all the time while the mother seals swim close by until they’re ready to re-enter the sea.