A sea otter launched into the national spotlight after social media images circulated of her aggressively wresting surfboards away from surfers off the coast of Santa Cruz, California is building a fan club as she continues to evade capture.
The cool thing about being human is that you can intrude onto other species’ territories and then declare the native species a threat to public safety.
“Aggressive behavior in female southern sea otters may be associated with hormonal surges or due to being fed by humans,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement last week.
Otter 841 was born in captivity and released into the wild in June 2020. She is tagged with her number and has a radio transmitter that officials have been monitoring to keep tabs on her.
Aggressive behavior we don’t necessarily understand, followed by a very interesting fact that she was fed by humans in captivity.
No wonder she’s as bold as she is.
And can we give her a name already? Otter 841 just doesn’t roll off the tongue. Maybe call her “Gypsy Danger” or something like that.
I mean, anything that screws over surfers makes my day better. Especially if it’s a member of the local environment doing it.
Whatcha got against surfers?
