- Otters are cute, playful, and out for blood.
We all love otters. The slippery water weasels are so adorable when they play around, stack rocks, or crack clams with a stone balanced on their little bellies.
But they get a lot less cute once they start pulling your child to a watery grave.
That strange yet horrific scenario recently played out in Washington state. A mother and child were walking at a dock by the Puget Sound when a river otter attacked them.
In the tussle, the otter grabbed the child and pulled them into the river. As the mother attempted to rescue the child, the otter began assaulting her instead.
Fortunately, both the mother and the child escaped without major injuries. Still, they received nasty scratches and bites that required a visit to the hospital.
Meditate on this the next time you’re ooh’ing and ah’ing over some cute baby otter video.
Battle on the Docks
The otter incident happened in Bremerton, Washington, a city on the western shore of the Puget Sound. On September 12, the unnamed mother and her child were on a morning walk on the docks of the Bremerton Marina.
Suddenly, a river otter emerged from the water and clambered onto the dock. And it wasn’t there to be cute and cuddle.
The otter promptly attacked the young child, according to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW). It grabbed the child and yanked them off the dock.
Once the child was in the water, the otter pushed them under the surface, seemingly intending to drown the child. As it did so, the otter scratched the child several times and bit them on the head, face, and legs.
It’s not like the mother watched helplessly from the dock, though. She immediately began to try and rescue her kid.
Luckily, the child broke free from the otter and popped up on the surface after only a few moments. The mother grabbed them and started helping the child out of the water.
Seeing its prey getting away, the otter turned its attention to the mother. As she pulled the child onto the dock, the otter sank its teeth into her arm.
With the child safety on dry land, the mother and child escaped along the dock. Yet, the otter wasn’t ready to let them go without first chasing after them for a short while.
Neither the mother nor the child received serious injuries. However, the child’s bites and scratches were treated at a nearby hospital where they were also cleared for rabies.
“We are grateful the victim only sustained minor injuries, due to the mother’s quick actions and child’s resiliency,” said WDFW Sergeant Ken Balazs.
Not the First Otter Attack
While it might seem bizarre, otter attacks aren’t all that rare. For instance, an otter attacked a man and a dog in Florida in September 2023.
In this case, however, the otter was confirmed to be rabid. The man received 41 bites in the attack.
A month earlier, a river otter attacked three women who were river floating on inner tubes in Montana. All three of them sustained injuries, and one woman had to be airlifted to a hospital.
And then there was the Alaska Otter Gang. That case was so weird we wrote a whole story about it.
Over a couple of years, a pack of otters attacked several people and their pets. They caused severe injuries to their victims and nearly drowned a husky.
Protective but Also Psycho
But why do otters attack? Well, assuming that the animal doesn’t have rabies, it could be because of their protective nature.
Otters can be particularly violent in spring, when they give birth to otter pups. If a person or dog strays too close to their kids, otters will fly into a psychotic rage to chase the perceived attacker away.
But then again, otters kind of are just jerks who enjoy violence.
Take sea otters, for instance. While they may look cute and cuddly, they’re known to kidnap baby seals and hold them hostage until the parents bring them a tribute of fish.
Mama and papa seal better hurry, though. If the otter gets bored, it just might rape and down the baby seal.
If you’d like to read more about that and other horrendous animal behavior, check out our article on 7 animals that are verified a**holes.