This story is so amazing that's it's going to have to become a move a la Cocaine Bear. Surfing sea otter continues to evade capture in Santa Cruz. Over the past two summers, a female sea otter has been repeatedly approaching surfers and kayakers in the area, taking chomps out of their boards and, in some cases, claiming them for herself as she climbs on for a ride. Known as Otter 841, the notorious five-year-old sea otter has been evading capture from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials who have deemed her a public safety hazard, describing her behavior as unexplained, “concerning” and “highly unusual.” ... It was Lee’s fourth time surfing, this time at Steamer Lane. Not long after he entered the water, the otter suddenly darted toward him, mounting the board and trying to wrestle it out of his hands. She tore entire chunks out of it with her sharp teeth before taking a bite out of the leash attached to his ankle. After narrowly escaping the animal and paddling to shore, Lee said he doesn’t plan to go back in the water any time soon. “I’m done with surfing,” he said in an email. “I was pretty shaken up after the incident.” More evidence that Cali is just one unlivable hellscape from north to south, where politicians have ruined everything, including otter behavior, just like you've been hearing! spoilered for image size and disturbing otter violence... Spoiler Spoiler
They’re so few sea otters left if they capture they will either relocate them or put her in the Monterey Aquarium.
On the real though, we have kayaked through bunches of sea otters and watched them floating on their backs, eating their crustacean picnics -- pretty cool. Never seen one with any interest in a human before this.
Nice, hope so I remember being bummed out by the Freya story and just assumed this is what's done with problem animals https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/world/europe/norway-walrus-freya-killed.html
Otters are mustelids- related to the biggest badass family of carnivores on the planet - same family as badgers (including the infamous honey badger), ferrets, weasels, minks and stoats. Low key below-the-radar serious hunters. If there was a mustelid the size of a lion, they'd be the most terrifying creatures on the planet.
