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Surf's up! Sea otter terrorizes surfers in California, steals their boards
The 5-year-old female otter has been biting, thrashing, and clawing at surfers who are enjoying the waves near West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz
July 13, 2023 9:33am
Updated: July 13, 2023 9:33am
An aggressive sea otter has been terrorizing surfers in California by stealing their boards and harassing them since mid-June.
The 5-year-old female otter has been biting, thrashing, and clawing at surfers who are enjoying the waves near West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. On some occasions, the otter has even swam away with some of the surfboards.
A recent video uploaded to social media by NativeSantaCruz shows the otter fighting with a surfer on top of his board. The otter manages to kick the surfer off of his board and then tries to steal it away from him before proceeding to bite it.
"In the past five days now, there's been three more incidents of it," photographer Mark Woodward told ABC 7 News. "And they've all been much more aggressive. I have photographed a lot of otters over the years; I have never seen anything like this."
"It was a true wrestling match over this surfboard," Woodward said about the shocking video. "And the person finally got it away, and it was damaged. Basically, the board was destroyed."
A city worker posted signs along West Cliff Drive reading “aggressive sea otter” in an attempt to caution surfers about the unfriendly guest.
Enter the water at your own risk!
— Native Santa Cruz (@NativeSantaCruz) July 11, 2023
I was talking with a reporter when a City employee walked up and posted this sign pic.twitter.com/atK5zUMAv7
“This is very unusual and rare,” Jessica Fujii, the scientific and operational leader of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Program told the LA Times. “I would not characterize this as a common behavior for sea otters. We have seen similar instances, you know, over the last several decades … but the persistence and pattern of this particular otter is fairly unique.”
The endangered marine mammal was identified as Otter 841, who was born in captivity at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and then released into the wild after she was weaned. The otter was tagged so she could be monitored upon her release.
“Due to the increasing public safety risk, a team from C.D.F.W. and the Monterey Bay Aquarium trained in the capture and handling of sea otters has been deployed to attempt to capture and rehome her,” Ashley McConnell, spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement.
