Sunday Night Open Thread: It’s Seldom As Simple As It First Looks…

Wildlife officials are trying to capture this 5-year-old otter who was seen wrestling away a surfboard near Santa Cruz, California on Sunday.

The otter has reportedly shown aggression for several weeks. She will be evaluated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium once she’s captured. pic.twitter.com/HC6TEM59xO

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 13, 2023

i will evaluate her right now: she's perfect. leave her alone https://t.co/aB32TRlKOk

— flglmn (@flglmn) July 13, 2023

"but i WANT to surf there" yeah well she wants to steal your surfboard. let the Law Of The Sea decide

— flglmn (@flglmn) July 13, 2023

Would that it were so easy. From the Washington Post, “The otter in that viral surfboard video is sending humans a warning” [unpaywalled gift link]:

… “It is cute. I can’t deny that. I don’t want to be the fun police,” said Kevin Connor, a spokesman for the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But the videos, he added, show an animal that is “missing some of her really critical survival instincts.”

Animals like this otter that have no qualms about being near people often do so after getting a meal from them. But too many of those seeming acts of generosity, though, can endanger a species if it stops foraging for food on its own…

After being fed by people, the surfing otter′s mother started approaching kayakers in 2018. Once wildlife managers captured the brash female, they realized it was pregnant.

That otter’s pup, which was dubbed Otter 841 by wildlife managers, was raised at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and released in 2020. Wildlife managers took precautions to prevent it from getting used to humans, wearing face shields and ponchos to obscure the human form while interacting with it.

For a while, 841 appeared to lead a normal otter-y life in the wild. But it soon it began to approach people in the water, like its mother. “We don’t know the exact cause of the behavior,” Connor said. But he added that its conduct is consistent with that of an animal that has been fed.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages southern sea otters, said aggressive behavior like this is sometimes caused by hormonal surges as well. For now, the agency advised the public to keep away from the otter.

“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,” agency spokeswoman Ashley McConnell wrote in an email…

 
She’s got her defenders, locally — per KCRA News:

A pirate only identified by its tag as 841, has been stealing surfboards along popular surfing spots along the Santa Cruz coast…

While 841 has reportedly been connected to surfer interactions for years it wasn’t until June of 2023 that the pirate was caught on camera pirating surfboards. Police in Santa Cruz say 841 has had at least four encounters with surfers and is known to bite, scratch and get on top of surfboards.

On June 18, Mark Woodward, @NativeSantaCruz on Twitter, posted photos and a video clip of 841 latching onto several surfboards and even stealing one for a quick joy ride.

On June 26, video taken by Lori Pemberton shows the otter stealing an unattended surfboard. When the owner of the board attempts to get it back, 841 paws it, attempting to take the board into the deeper waters of the Monterey Bay. After about six minutes, five of which yakety sax should’ve accompanied, the surfer was able to reclaim their board. (Watch the full video here.) …

Most recently, on July 9, the otter made its most brazen commandeering to date. As seen on video, 841 leaps onto a surfboard and becomes aggressive with the surfer. The end result? Several large bite marks and a surfer who tells KSBW 8 that he’ll probably never surf again…

The Department of Fish and Wildlife told KSBW 8 that even if the otter was to bite a surfer that they would still attempt to capture and rehome her.

“Euthanasia would not be under consideration,” said Ashley McConnell with the agency, even if the otter becomes more aggressive.

‘We absolutely don’t wanna get lynched by an angry mob of Pirate 841 defenders.’

Latest local update, from KGO/ABC News7:

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KGO) — The surfboard-biting sea otter in Santa Cruz has once again – evaded capture attempts by wildlife officials…

Colleen Young, a sea otter Biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is one of the divers on the capture team.

“I’m extremely frustrated and exhausted,” Young said.

The CDFW has been working with Monterey Bay Aquarium staff since July 2. Officials are responding because this 5-year-old female otter is showing concerning and unusual behavior by approaching people.

They’re able to locate her every day, but her behavior changes every day.

“For this particular animal, she’s got a lot of variability when she’s active, when she’s resting and that makes it really challenging because we have different capture strategies depending on what her behavior is. So we need to plan in advance what those capture strategies are going to be because we have different people that are experts in the different types of strategies,” Young said…

Young explained they tried catching this otter last year when she was showing similar, unusual behavior. The otter has some familiarity with nets.

“Last year, we also made some capture attempts which turned out to be successful in hazing her and discouraging the behavior so we didn’t end up capturing her because she stopped doing the behavior,” Young said.

Young said they had crews out on Friday and they’ll keep trying until they capture her…

And one day Pirate 841 will be a legend!

Seeing this with like a 3 foot sea otter makes me think that humans are very lucky that we don't really coexist all that much with the Giant River Otters of the Amazon, which get up to 6 ft tall and tag team drag animals into the water to drown them.

They terrify the Jaguars.

— verbatim (@verb_sp) July 13, 2023