Sea otters are stealing surfboards, and now they're being hunted across the ocean

A sea otter is attacking surfers at Santa Cruz Beach in California, sometimes stealing their boards .

The "prisoner", called " Sea Otter No. 841 ", is a female, about 5 years old, with a blue tag on her left foot.

People are trying hard to capture her, however, she escapes again and again .

'Pirate' sea otter appears

One of the unlucky victims was 40-year-old Joon Lee, who had encountered sea otters before while surfing. These animals have round faces, black bean-like eyes, diamond-shaped noses, and often lie on the sea to sleep, looking very peaceful and friendly .

Until he met No. 841.

Li had been surfing for about an hour and a half that day when he noticed a sea otter suddenly appear and swim toward a surfer. “At first, we were like, ‘Look, how cute!’ But then it grabbed the board and bit off a piece of it , and our thought became, ‘What’s going on?’”

Then, the sea otter turned its gaze to Li Jun and swam towards him.

Li Jun panicked. "I was scared. I tried to swim away, but before I could swim away, it bit my leg rope." One end of the rope is tied to the surfboard, and the other end is worn by the surfer on the ankle, so that even if the surfer falls off the board, the surfboard can be quickly retrieved.

Next, No. 841 started biting the surfboard. Li Jun tried to flip the surfboard over to let the otter fall into the water, but the otter quickly pounced on him again .

841 biting Li Jun's surfboard | Mark Woodward @NativeSantaCruz

Li Jun eventually managed to escape to shore, but he was exhausted and left with psychological trauma - he said he might never surf again and that he now has a phobia of sea otters .

Photographer Mark Woodward said he heard about a sea otter snatching surfboards last year, but this year the situation seems to be getting worse. On June 19, while photographing surfers, he even witnessed an attack by No. 841 himself - it rushed towards the frightened surfer like a torpedo and snatched the surfboard from the surfer . Since then, Woodward has seen at least three more attacks by No. 841, and he feels that No. 841's aggressiveness seems to be getting stronger .

841 stole a surfboard | Mark Woodward @NativeSantaCruz

Later, with the help of a speedboat, the original owner was able to get the surfboard back from No. 841 | Mark Woodward @NativeSantaCruz

Lori Pemberton also took a photo of No. 841. At that time, there was a surfboard floating on the sea without anyone guarding it, so No. 841 took advantage of the opportunity and tried to snatch the surfboard. It took the owner of the surfboard about 6 minutes to get his surfboard back from No. 841.

No. 841 is a southern sea otter, also known as the California sea otter. This subspecies lives on the coast of central California. It is an endangered species and there are currently about 3,000 of them in the wild.

Normally, sea otters rarely interact with humans . Ecologist Tim Tinker says the animals have a natural fear of humans and usually go to great lengths to avoid us.

The weight of a female sea otter is approximately 14 to 33 kilograms. Although it looks cute, it still has the bite force of a predator - the bite force of a sea otter is about 3.8 times that of a human, and can crush clams, bones and the like .

Check out the little fangs on #841 | Mark Woodward @NativeSantaCruz

Her name is 841

The wildlife protection department staff felt that No. 841 could no longer be left in the wild . Things were becoming increasingly out of control. Whether it harmed humans or humans harmed it, it would be a tragedy.

No. 841 was not so aggressive at the beginning.

The staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium still remember her mother, No. 723. In a sense, No. 841 repeated her mother's fate.

In 2016, the Monterey Bay Aquarium rescued a sea otter pup that was separated from its mother. She was only about 7 weeks old. The aquarium named her 723 and raised her until 2017, when she was released into the wild . However, around 2018, the aquarium began to receive reports of 723 boarding boats and kayaks. It may be because people have been feeding her squid and other foods, which caused her to think that humans are a source of food and get too close to humans .

For her safety and that of humans, No. 723 was captured again. Subsequent evaluations showed that No. 723 was not suitable for living in the wild, so she was sent to another aquarium.

At the Monterey Bay Aquarium, researchers discovered that No. 723 was pregnant with a baby, and soon a sea otter pup was born - she was No. 841. No. 841 grew up with her mother until she was weaned, and then the aquarium continued to raise the pup for a while. When she grew healthy enough to survive independently in the wild, she was released back into the wild . The blue radio transmitter on her left foot was the mark left at that time.

Jessica Fujii, director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's sea otter program, said that 841's behavior is by no means common for sea otters . She was born in the aquarium and did not learn her mother's aggression. The aquarium is also very careful to wear black cloaks and welding masks when feeding sea otters to conceal their human appearance , and will not let sea otter pups have unnecessary excessive interactions with humans to avoid developing bad behavioral habits.

An early sea otter at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, raised by staff and volunteers | www.montereybayaquarium.org

When 841 left the aquarium, everything seemed fine, and in fact, nothing went wrong during his first year in the wild.

But something happened later that changed her.

Kevin Connor of the Monterey Bay Aquarium said that since 2021, there have been reports of sea otters harassing kayakers and other sea otters , and aquarium staff believe these incidents may all point to the same sea otter.

The "culprit" is most likely No. 841, which was released into the wild in June 2020.

After No. 841 was released into the wild, the aquarium was still able to track her because she was wearing a radio transmitter. There was no sign of her interacting with humans before the surfboard incident. She seemed to be normal, just like other sea otters, floating on the sea every day, eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating. She gave birth twice. The first offspring born in May 2022 survived, and the second offspring was born this spring and did not survive .

A mother sea otter rests with her pup in the wild. (not number 841) | www.montereybayaquarium.org

If a sea otter mother loses her child, she may quickly enter estrus. Fujii suspected that No. 841 was pregnant again. During pregnancy, the sea otter's demand for food will increase so that it can reserve nutrition and energy for the pup in its belly . It is also during pregnancy that sea otters may be affected by hormones and approach humans. If they are repeatedly fed by humans, this behavior may be strengthened.

Since early July, the Fish and Wildlife Department has issued a "wanted warrant" for No. 841 and formed an expert sea otter capture team.

There have been no reports of No. 841 biting anyone. Basically, No. 841's favorite thing is the surfboard, followed by the fins worn by surfers.

Fish and Wildlife officials said that " euthanasia of 841 is not an option, even if she harmed a human. "

If 841 is caught, she will likely be taken to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she will undergo a physical examination and surveillance evaluation before being sent to another aquarium to live out the rest of her life.

Chasing No. 841

No. 841 is not so easy to catch.

Generally speaking, the common method of catching sea otters is the "clandestine underwater approach", which means sneaking up on the sea otter from underwater and catching it quickly with a net when it is off guard.

The mission to capture No. 841 was not going smoothly, mainly because of the poor underwater visibility recently, No. 841's behavior pattern was changing every day, and No. 841 was very wary of the net .

Colleen Young, a member of the sea otter capture team, said, "I am very frustrated and exhausted... We need to formulate a capture strategy based on 841's behavior in advance because there are different experts in the team, and each of them is good at different strategies. But 841's behavior is always changing, whether it is active or resting."

On July 15, the capture team came face to face with No. 841, but still failed to catch her .

On July 15, the staff with the dredging net faced off with No. 841 across the surfboard. They couldn't catch him. They really couldn't catch him. | Mark Woodward @Native Santa Cruz

Yang also said that last year they tried to arrest No. 841 based on a certain behavior pattern, but No. 841 quickly stopped that behavior pattern.

As No. 841's fame grows, she has developed a group of supporters .

Joseph Wilcox, a local surfer, held up a sign that read " Keep 841 free ." He said, "Every time humans encounter some unique wild animals, they have to put them in cages and send them somewhere... The ocean is 841's home, and it's our home too. We can share the ocean together, but of course, be careful of sea otters."

Supporter of 841 Wilcox | Mark Woodward @Native Santa Cruz

But Yang believes that No. 841 must be captured. "The ocean is her home, and humans are just visitors. But unless everyone is willing to stay away from the ocean - which is unlikely - capturing her is our only way to solve this problem."

Photographer Mark Woodward, who has photographed 841 many times, also believes that 841 should not remain in the wild. " She may be suffering from a serious disease. In this case, capturing her is good for her and other sea otters. "

The latest photo of No. 841, she is holding two crabs | Mark Woodward @Native Santa Cruz

And the situation is getting worse, and Woodward is worried that some fool might deliberately approach or provoke No. 841. He heard that No. 841 recently climbed onto a young man's surfboard and the man punched her in the face.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has posted signs on beaches warning, "Aggressive sea otters in the area. Enter the water at your own risk. Stay away from marine wildlife" | Mark Woodward @NativeSantaCruz

"It is very important to always maintain a safe distance from all wildlife," said Lilian Carswell, a sea otter conservation expert. "People should not interact with or feed wild animals, which could put yourself or the animal in danger."

References

[1]Mark Woodward @NativeSantaCruz https://twitter.com/NativeSantaCruz

[2]Rust, S. (2023). A sea otter is terrorizing California surfers. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-12/a-renegade-sea-otter-is-terrorizing-california-surfers

[3]Copitch, J. (2023). Pirate Otter: Everything you need to know about otter 841 and her surfboarding piracy. KSBW. Retrieved from https://www.ksbw.com/article/santa-cruz-sea-otter-everything-you-need-to-know-about-otter-841-her-surfboarding-piracy/44539884#

[4]Balderas, C. (2023). Mom of the surfboard stealing Santa Cruz otter had similar behavior problems. KSBW. Retrieved from https://www.ksbw.com/article/surfboard-stealing-santa-cruz-otter-had-similar-behavior-problems/44523375

[5]Roth, A. (2023). A Sea Otter Is Stealing Surfboards Near Santa Cruz, California. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/science/sea-otter-surfboard.html

[6]Fraga, K. (2023). This Otter Has Been Terrorizing Surfers And Stealing Their Boards. All That's Interesting. Retrieved from https://allthatsinteresting.com/renegade-california-otter-841

[7]Copitch, J. (2023). Santa Cruz's most wanted sea otter continues to evade capture. KSBW. Retrieved from https://www.ksbw.com/article/santa-cruz-sea-otters-surfboard-theft-evades-capture/44546709

[8]Sea otter - Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sea_otter&oldid=1164629207

[9]Barr, K. (2023). Sea Otter on the Lam Steals Hella Surfboards and Looks Cool Doing It. Gizmodo. Retrieved from https://gizmodo.com/santa-cruz-sea-otter-stealing-surfboards-1850633099

[10]Bartlett, A. (2023). Notorious 'surfing sea otter' continues to evade capture in Santa Cruz, officials say. SFGATE. Retrieved from https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/santa-cruz-surfing-sea-otter-841-18199752.php

[11]Copitch, J. (2023). Otter steals surfboard, swims away from owner. KSBW. Retrieved from https://www.ksbw.com/article/otter-steals-surfboard-swims-away-from-owner/44547533

Author: Sea Sky Mark

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