An aggressive otter attacked surfers in Santa Cruz, not far from San Francisco, on Sunday, July 9th. The behavior of this 5-year-old woman remains unclear for the time being. She is now being hunted down by the authorities.
In California, USA, an otter who is aggressive towards surfers and is sometimes able to steal their surfboards is officially hunted by the authorities, who want to put an end to his theft.
In fact, this five-year-old woman has been attacking surfers in Santa Cruz, not far from San Francisco, for several weeks. But in the last few days, his boldness seems to have exceeded its limits.
In a video posted to Twitter on Monday, the sea otter climbs onto the board of a terrified glider pilot who unsuccessfully tries to flip his longboard to resist him.
Without moving a bit, the mammal clings to the foam object and starts biting it. Faced with this resurgence of aggressiveness, the authorities decided to take action.
“Due to the growing threat to public safety, a team (…) trained in capturing and handling sea otters has been deployed to attempt to capture and relocate the sea otter,” the U.S. US Department of Fisheries on Wednesday told AFP Wildlife, in a statement.
The unusual behavior of this female off Santa Cruz remains unexplained. Especially since the animal is well known to local scientists.
According to the New York Times, she was born in captivity to a mother who lost her innate fear of humans after being nursed by many Californians.
To prevent the pattern from repeating itself, the staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium who cared for them before their release even went so far as to wear masks and ponchos.
Despite these efforts, the female began to approach humans about a year after being released into the sea. Until he asserted himself as a true terror of the seas.
“I was scared,” Joon Lee, a victim of an attack on Sunday, told the Los Angeles Times. “I tried to swim to escape, but before I could escape, the otter bit my leash (the rope that connects the board to a surfer’s ankle),” said this computer engineer. “I panicked”.