Wildlife officials have a mission — find a surfboard-stealing sea otter.
A video has been circulating showing a sea otter that has been taking surfboards away from surfers off the coast of California, The Associated Press reported.
Federal wildlife officials said the otter is a 5-year-old female who has no fear of people. Instead, she’s aggressive toward them.
She doesn’t just like surfboards either. She also is aggressive toward kayakers.
The otter has been seen jumping on several boards and even bitting and tearing chunks out of one of them, the AP reported.
So far the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hasn’t heard of any injuries to people but said that this is not normal behavior.
“While there have been no confirmed reports of injury, due to the highly unusual behavior of this otter, kayakers, surfers, and others recreating in the area should not approach the otter or encourage the otter’s interactions,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
The California sea otter, otherwise known as a southern sea otter, was brought to near extinction before hunting of them was banned starting in 1911. Now there are about 3,000 of them in the wild, living in areas that are popular with kayakers, surfers and paddle boarders, The Washington Post reported. They normally have a fear of humans and try to avoid them, ecologist Tim Tinker told the newspaper.
Wildlife officials said that the otter may be experiencing hormonal surges or that they’re being fed by people, the AP reported.
The otter is identified as 841 and was born in captivity.
.@usfws & CA Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) are aware of a 5-year-old female southern sea otter exhibiting concerning and unusual behaviors in Santa Cruz, California, including repeatedly approaching surfers & kayakers recreating in the area. #thread (1/6) pic.twitter.com/w1u8wkJ3qN
— USFWS News (@USFWSNews) July 14, 2023
The otter’s mother had been orphaned and raised in captivity and eventually released, but when it showed behavior similar to that of 841, she was captured and taken to the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz. That’s when 841 was born. The pup was eventually transferred to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where she was cared for by humans who wore masks and ponchos to disguise themselves from her and to prevent the otter from having positive associations with them, the Post reported. Despite the measures taken, she wasn’t afraid of humans.
She was released into the wild in 2020 and has a radio transmitter to allow her movements to be tracked.
She’s also been seen approaching people back in 2021 and twice last year.
Last September, workers at Monterey Bay Aquarium along with state wildlife officials tried to get her to become less comfortable around people and used a paddle to hit water to send a message. But it apparently didn’t work.
“Ultimately, that effort was not successful and as we can see, the interactions with people continued and escalated and now we’ve got an otter 841 that is very bold,” aquarium spokesperson Kevin Connor told the AP.
“We need the animal to listen to its natural survival instinct and have a healthy fear of people so it won’t approach them,” he said.
If they are able to capture her, aquarium vets will evaluate her and rehome her to a zoo or aquarium. But if she hurts someone, they may have to euthanize her.
Despite knowing who she is and being able to track her, so far, the Monterey Bay Aquarium staff have not been able to catch her, the Post reported.
