US Authorities Hunting Aggressive Sea Otter Attacking, Stealing Surfboards

The five-year-old otter was born in captivity after her own mother, who was displaying similar aggressive behaviors, was removed from the wild. Officials remain uncertain as to what may be prompting the animal's behavior.

Authorities in California recently undertook a hunting campaign to track down an adult female sea otter that has been terrorizing surfers off the Santa Cruz coastline since mid-June, with attacks recently becoming more aggressive.

Joon Lee, a 40-year-old Apple software engineer, told US media he was surfing for about 90 minutes before he was recently attacked by a sea otter.

"It was being peaceful and friendly, and all of us surfers were like, 'Oh, it's so cute,'" said Lee, who said he'd been swimming near an otter for a majority of his surfing session. But then, when another otter appeared, its entire energy shifted.

"At first, we were like, 'Look how cute?' But then it bit down on the board and chewed off a piece, and we were like, 'What's going on?'" he recalled. "I was scared. I was trying to swim away, but before I was able to get far, it bit my leash. So I panicked."

He said he tried to jostle the otter off of the board, but the animal was persistent and even began to lunge at Lee, who survived the encounter even as his surfboard did not.

Video of the recent encounter has since surfaced across social media.

An amazing video!
This video of the sea otter attacking a surfboard yesterday was shared me and is being posted with the photographers permission. The video must remain in this tweet to be shared. This is a dangerous sea otter, avoid it if at all possible! pic.twitter.com/N7qPMFVRrt

— Native Santa Cruz (@NativeSantaCruz) July 10, 2023

This may seem cute but it’s not, this sea otter was very aggressive and the surfer actually abandoned his board and swam to shore. I believe this is the same otter as in my previous photos, though I understand there was a second otter on the board at first 1/2 pic.twitter.com/VtCeOVQ9tm

— Native Santa Cruz (@NativeSantaCruz) July 9, 2023

While the incident may seem humorous, as sea otters are often recognized as adorable critters, they are predatory animals and can grow to be quite large. Adults can grow to up to 5 feet in length, with males weighing between 80 and 100 pounds, while females weigh somewhere between 50 and 70 pounds.

Federal and state wildlife officials have now decided to remove the otter from the wild before she manages to hurt anyone, or even herself.

"I would start just by saying that this is very unusual and rare," said Jessica Fujii, scientific and operational leader of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sea Otter Program. "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 story only gets more strange: the sea otter who is attacking surfboards, is the daughter of a sea otter who had to be trapped five years ago after she began displaying aggressive behavior towards kayakers.

Fuji believes people had been illegally feeding that otter at the time, which may have triggered her aggressive behavior. Her pup, tagged as Otter 841, was born in captivity and weaned until she was released to the wild, having since taken to attacking surfboards.

Fuji said the aquarium and their partner organizations work diligently to make sure their young have little interaction with people, and that this particular otter began to exhibit her aggressive behavior only recently.

Otter 841 has also given birth twice, having lost her second pup in the spring. Fuji explained the otter could be pregnant again but that officials won't be certain of why the animal is acting aggressively until its caught. Officials are hoping to trap the animal by weeks' end.

"Due to the increasing public safety risk, a team from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife 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, a spokeswoman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement.

That may be trickier than the authorities hope, however, as Fuji says of Otter 841:“She’s been quite talented at evading us.”