Swimmer bitten by otters 12 times in California lake: ‘They wanted to kill me’
They’re not so otterly cute after all.
A man enjoying a swim in a California lake said he was attacked by otters and bitten at least a dozen times — leading him to believe that the furry critters wanted to “kill” him.
Matt Leffers said the wild incident occurred on Sept. 3 at the seemingly ironically named Serene Lakes in Placer County in northern California.
“These things were so aggressive that, literally, I felt like they wanted to kill me,” Leffers told the station KCRA of the rampaging aquatic mammals. “It is by far the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had in my life. Nothing even comes close.”
He felt the first bite on his calf, and another just seconds later.
“And then I started swimming fast but there was the otter, popped up right in front of me and then I was bit again,” Leffers recalled.
The swimmer’s wife rescued him from the group of otters — known as a romp — on a paddleboard and then took him to a hospital to be treated for roughly 40 puncture wounds caused by the animals’ sharp teeth.
The otter mauling left the victim covered in scars – and seeing red. It came two months after an otter bit another swimmer in the same lake, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“I think the fact that I’m the second person attacked here this summer, it’s a big red flag,” Leffers said.
He said he had been swimming in that lake, where his family owns a cabin, for 30 years and had never experienced anything like what happened to him in the familiar waters two months ago.
Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said that while otter attacks on people are very rare, they are a predator species.
“They won’t normally attack people or larger animals. However, they will defend their territory if they feel threatened, whether that’s a real threat or perceived threat,” Tira said.
Leffers called the agency’s response to the otter incident “wimpy” — and argued for the animals’ removal from the lake “before somebody gets killed.”
Several otter attacks have been reported in recent months, including one in September, when a rabid otter bit a 74-year-old man and a dog in Florida.
Just weeks earlier, three women were injured — and one of them lost a chunk of her right ear — when an angry otter attacked them while they were tubing down a Montana river.
In July, a female otter made international headlines by snatching boards from surfers near Santa Cruz, California, and repeatedly evaded capture.
In October, it was reported that the sneaky otter, dubbed “841”, had given birth to a pup and was seen floating with her baby resting on her belly.
