Woman, 40, badly hurt in park after eight of the carnivorous creatures launch early-morning attack
A group of wild otters viciously attacked a woman jogging in an inner-city park in Malaysia.
Mariasella Harun, 40, was chased and mauled by eight of the mammals on Wednesday morning in Tanjung Aru, in the northern Sabah state of Borneo island.
A graphic video of the aftermath showed the victim huddled on a pavement with deep gashes visible on her arms, as blood streaked her temple, T-shirt and leggings.
Another clip captured the bevy of otters – each as big as a small dog, with slick dark hair – charging across a car park moments before the attack.
It is the latest in a series of incidents involving humans and otters in the area. A man was recently taken to hospital after another unprovoked attack.
Otter attacks are increasing across the whole of South-East Asia, according to wildlife authorities.
Despite their somewhat cuddly appearance, otters have teeth and jaws that are strong enough to crack open shellfish.
They can weigh up to 14kg and grow up to 4ft, including their tail.
And as you sit there deep in thought you feel something tickle your nethers, you think little of it at first but as soon as you feel it again you shift your position and look down. At the same moment your mind comprehends that it's the hand of an otter, that very hand grabs ahold of your dangling valuables and pulls. You are never seen again.
Someone was probably mean to them but it wasn't her. She is also not the first to be attacked.
She described finding herself suddenly surrounded by the pack after they “jumped out” from a drain in Perdana Park at about 6am local time.
“At first, I thought it was a cat, but the creature jumped out and bit me while I was running, and there were many of them ... I could not even stand up when it happened,” she told local media.
I once got to go behind the scenes at a zoo, including their vet’s operating room. They had a bunch of interesting stories about how they tranq and operate on different animals of various sizes, but the worst experience they had was with an otter.
Poor little guy woke up partway through surgery, panicked, and went fucking berserk. Those little claws left gouges a foot long and an inch deep in the vet. And then, because they’re so small and fast, trying to re-anaesthetize it was a huge pain.
Anyways, I think about that story a lot when I hear about otters.
Looks like the park was fenced off (I assume they've built in their native habitat) and the otters managed to get through the broken fence. They we either hungry or got territorial.
Otters are not built for speed on land. If you've seen one run, you know it's and awkward hop-hop-hop movement. This lady couldn't outrun them? Law of nature comes into play I guess.
Nah, the slow hop-hop-hop is like a jog. Mustelids can fucking zoom if they're in danger or after prey. Like, even dopey-ass domesticated ferrets can get going pretty damn quick when they've been hurt or feel threatened. Nobody has posted what species of otter attacked this lady, but river otters can reach speeds of 47 kph (29 mph) on land. Sea otters are slow and fat, but these weren't sea otters.
You aren't outrunning a pack of otters in a sprint. It's no question that you could outrun them over a long distance, but mustelids are zoomy little fuckers.
(note that I like mustelids and had 4 ferrets, so please don't mistake my tone as being sour on them)
EDIT: holy shit, ferrets can be bred and trained to run at like 22 mph. That's insane!
Here's a still frame of the otters in question. I'm betting they could quickly surprise and surround anyone they caught alone. And would have no problem giving chase on land.