Fear is growing in California due to the attacks of a sea otter which, in recent days, has been sowing panic among surfers and swimmers .
The specimen, particularly and «unusually aggressive», scratches, bites and – even – steals surfboards . The authorities of the city of Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco, have issued an alert on the animal - a five-year-old female - that they are trying to capture to take it to a less dangerous place for swimmers. The otter had been harassing surfers for weeks but on Monday she climbed onto one of the boards and held it, even when one of them tried to shake her into the sea. The video of the incident quickly went viral on TikTok , making the rounds on the web. In the video we see the animal that at one point throws itself at the surfer and starts biting the board.
"Due to the growing public safety risk, a team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium has been deployed to attempt to capture it," the Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement. In the US these animals are at risk of extinction , in the North Pacific there are only 3,000 specimens. But their docile and delicate appearance should not mislead: they are aggressive predators, their bites dangerous.
(Unioneonline/vf)