Aggressive Otter (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

Cocaine Otter?
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A California otter is making headlines for her unique, and worrying, interactions with surfers.

In recent weeks, Mark Woodward, a photographer who goes by Native Santa Cruz on Twitter and Instagram has been sharing photos and videos of southern sea otters riding on surfboards they’ve commandeered.

Authorities are particularly concerned about one sea otter, known as 841, who was involved in multiple incidents and can be seen in a video relentlessly gnawing on a board that the aquatic mammal scared a rider off of.

Wildlife authorities and experts still don’t have a clear explanation of the five-year-old otter’s behavior, but say they are working to find, capture and relocate her.

While the videos and photos have elicited jokes about the otter reclaiming her watery home, Woodward and the US fish and wildlife service warn that its behavior is highly unusual and puts people and the animals in danger.…….

An ‘aggressive’ sea otter is snatching surfers’ boards. Experts are puzzled

There is no clear explanation for the sea mammal’s behavior, say authorities, who has been seen riding and gnawing surfboards

www.theguardian.com

 

[Semper]

I was once harassed by an aggressive beaver and a cougar.

 

[SWJJ]

I was once harassed by an aggressive beaver and a cougar.

story of my twenties.

 

[Grumpy Old Manatee]

Once had a bad experience with an aggressive ottoman. Think it was just a case of Resistentialism and (perhaps) excess consumption of certain beverages.

 

[faceman]

Still one of my favorite vids. Otters take no shirt from anything.

 

[sonicboom]

I was chased out of the water by a sea lion one time, and it started barking at me on the sand.

By the way, I can't believe someone ditch their board, because of an otter.

 

[soupcan dan]

6% of people surveyed think they can defeat an aggressive otter

 

[Optimus Prime]

I was chased out of the water by a sea lion one time, and it started barking at me on the sand.

By the way, I can't believe someone ditch their board, because of an otter.

About a month ago, researchers knew there was a problem when hundreds of sea lions began surfacing on Southern California beaches.

The charismatic but typically unaggressive sea mammals were biting people who approached them.


To understand their behavior, researchers looked toward the food chain. Small fish, such as anchovies and plankton, probably ate toxic algae that was blooming in the Pacific Ocean.

Larger mammals, including sea lions and dolphins, then ate the fish and the toxic algae they carried, researchers found.


Unbeknown to them, sea mammals were ingesting domoic acid — a neurotoxin produced by the algal bloom.

In the ecosystem, sea lions were perhaps hit the worst, suffering from seizures, brain damage, dehydration and muscle spasms as hundreds began to die.

The sick animals have been left feeling aggravated, which has led them to attack people and their pets walking by on the beach, researchers say…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/07/california-algae-bloom-sea-lions/

 

[donato]

 

[0rion]

This makes me wonder if otters taste like fish or chicken?

 

[saints4eva]

I was chased out of the water by a sea lion one time, and it started barking at me on the sand.

By the way, I can't believe someone ditch their board, because of an otter.

Read this article (scroll down to the sections on sea otters) and you will see how brutal, vicious and murderous sea otters are. I had no idea

The case against otters: necrophiliac, serial-killing fur monsters of the sea

They rape baby seals and hold each other’s pups hostage for food.

www.vox.com

 

[GW93]

They can be pretty aggressive, all right.

 

[Optimus Prime]

It was unimaginably fast, completely brutal and, for a few awful moments, seemed to be turning deadly. That’s how Jen Royce described a vicious attack by an otter that left her hospitalized.

“As I kept trying to keep my head above water, that’s when I had that, ‘This is how I’m going to die’ moment, and it honestly pissed me off,” she told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday interview.

“Yes, I was scared, and terrified beyond measure,” she said. “But if you can believe it, I had enough time to think of my three kids. I think as a parent you’d get it.

“I thought about them hearing that their mother died by an otter in a river. Like, really? No way was I going to let that happen to them. So, I fought as long and as hard as I could.”

Otter attacks are extremely rare, but when they do happen, wildlife experts recommend fighting back.…..

Montana Woman Says She Feared For Her Life During Otter Attack

A Bozeman, Montana, woman who survived a vicious attack by an otter while float tubing on the Jefferson River says she had a “this is how I’m going to die” moment.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

I was once harassed by an aggressive beaver and a cougar.

So close

Should read

“I was once harassed by an aggressive cougar with a wild beaver”

 

[Optimus Prime]

A sea otter who captured hearts and surfboards this past summer has become a mother, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

The sea otter, known as 841, rose to national prominence this past summer after reports and photos of an aquatic mammal harassing surfers and swimmers became national news. Now, she’s making headlines again as images of her floating on her back with a small otter lying on her belly are circulating.

Now that 841 has given birth, officials are emphasising that people should stay away from the duo.

“To help give sea otters and their pups the best chance at survival in the wild, it’s important for members of the public to give them space, especially when recreating on the water. Any attempts to approach from the water could be detrimental to the otter’s survival,” the FWS said in a 26 October statement.

In July, 841 gained a cult following for her unusual interactions with surfers and kayakers in the waters near Santa Cruz. No one knew what was behind her behaviors, but experts with the wildlife agency suspected that she could be dealing with hormonal changes brought on by pregnancy or people feeding her.……

841+1: beloved mischievous otter who swiped surfboards gives birth to pup

California otter known for harassing Santa Cruz surfers and eluding capture seen floating with her baby lying on her belly

www.theguardian.com