Otters are playful, but they can be dangerous. Today, I will share a video of my cats meeting one, and I will share other otter adventures..

Otters in Captivity

Otters are so cute and fun-loving and this makes them one of the main attractions at the zoo. If you have visited Sea World, you may have seen the otter act where the otter comes out to fix a clogged toilet. I noticed that the trainers had on very high boots and I believe that I know why.

There was a place in Riverside California called The Wild Animal Training Center. They trained animals for movies. I felt very privileged to take their Animal Keeper course.  Actually, the main job of the keeper is to feed the animals and clean the cages. As part of my training, I was asked to clean Audrey’s cage. My instructor told me that she was a species of small Asian otter.

Innocently, I went on into the cage with my rake, and I happened to be wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Audrey seemed nice at first. Then, she started a high-pitched humming or whining sound as she followed me around. The next thing I knew, she bit me in my calf! Ow! It was like a pinch and left a bruise, but it didn’t draw blood. If only I had been wearing the high rubber boots of the Sea World trainers. After the fact, I was told that Audrey didn’t like people that wore jeans.

Otters in the Wild

There are two kinds of otters that are generally seen in North America, Sea Otters, and River Otters. I don’t live near the sea, but a visit to Monterey Bay in northern California afforded me the chance to see some swimming in the ocean from a distance.

My next otter to see was a river otter that came swimming up the creek of my homestead. I was sitting on the bedrock that protrudes up out of the creek and my two cats, Pebbles and HeShe were with me. I got this adventure on video and you can watch it below. Amazingly, the cats were curious and wanted to run down to see it.  At the time, I was oblivious to the danger of what an aggressive otter can do. Fortunately, this otter wasn’t aggressive.

Fight Between a Fox and an Otter

A friend told me this story and it left me with chills. He said he came upon an otter fighting with a fox.  The otter was attacking viciously and the fox was screaming. Shocked, I asked if he intervened to help the fox. He said that he couldn’t for he feared for his own life. Ultimately, the otter won and killed the fox. I am so glad that I didn’t have to watch this brutal fight, but from it I learned that an otter is a wild animal that can be very dangerous.

Other River Otters Sighted

It was a long time before I saw another river otter and I wasn’t able to get it on video. Just after I fell off the ladder, I was looking down at the creek and saw four of them heading upstream.  Two were swimming along the shore and two were running on the shore. Sadly, there were going too fast for me to get my camera. It still was a blessing to see them and I hope to see some in the future and get a better-quality video.

Watch the Video

This video was shot with a Fuji underwater camera. The quality was so poor that it was difficult to get a picture from it. Anyway, I am glad that I had it with me so that I could capture thisspecial event.

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