A team has been sent after the increasingly aggressive sea otter to capture the animal in order to find a new home for it.
of the United States on the west coast, a sea otter has attacked Californian surfers and hijacked their surfboards.
In the city of Santa Cruz, wildlife officials have warned people about the long-clawed animal, which they say is a five-year-old female. The sea otter has been terrorizing the waters for a long time, but recently its behavior has been even more aggressive than before.
According to officials, a team of representatives from the California State Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Monterey Bay Aquarium trained in handling sea otters has been sent after the sea otter. The group is supposed to capture the sea otter in order to find a new home for it.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports on the capture efforts, according to which the enraged sea otter is an increasing threat to public safety.
New York The Times According to the report, the otter was first spotted climbing onto watercraft in Santa Cruz in 2021. At first the behavior was random, but over time the otter has become bolder. Last weekend, an otter was spotted stealing surfboards in three different situations.
In a video posted on Twitter on Monday, a sea otter climbs onto a surfer’s board and holds on tightly as the surfer shakes the board. At one point in the video, a sea otter attacks a surfer and ends up biting the board.
“I was scared,” he says Joon Lee”, which was attacked by a sea otter on Sunday.
“I tried to swim away, but before I could get far it bit my thong,” he said For the Los Angeles Times referring to the strap’ that surfers use to attach the board to their ankles.
New York The Times according to local researchers, the long-clawed sea otter is known as Oukko 841. According to them, the surfboard-stealing sea otter was born to an orphaned mother in captivity who had lost her natural fear of humans because humans had fed her so often.
To improve the animal’s chances of success after release, 841’s keepers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium took steps to prevent the otter from forming positive images of humans. The nurses, among other things, wore masks and ponchos when they were near the sea otters, which changed their appearance.
Despite this, 841 quickly lost his fear of humans. Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Program To Jessica Fuji according to the sea otter managed to be in the wild for a year without any problems. After this, however, reports began to come in about how the otter had approached surfers and people on the water in kayaks and SUP boards.
“We don’t know why this started. We have no evidence that the otter was fed,” said Fujii.
America’s settlers hunted sea otters for their fur until the beginning of the 20th century, and the species ended up on the brink of extinction. of the New York Times however, hunting was curbed by a ban that came into force in 1911. The animals are still endangered, but there are now believed to be around 3,000 individuals in the waters of the North Pacific.
Encountering a sea otter in the water is rare, but not unheard of among surfers, kayakers and sailors.
People think sea otters are cute, but they are actually aggressive predators and their bites are dangerous. However, the behavior of the female frolicking in the waters of Santa Cruz is rare and its aggressiveness has puzzled the experts.
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