Everyone knows that sea otters aren’t into surfing. That’s like, Marine Biology 101. They’re floaters, flippers, and swimmers, not surfers. This was why a frisky devil named Otter 841 intrigued the residents of Santa Cruz (and beyond!) in 2023 when she enacted a campaign of biting and commandeering the longboards of humans. (Sidenote: I still cannot get on board (surf pun!) with no-name number-only animals. I understand the logic of why they’re numbered, but if they’ve done something to warrant national attention they’ve earned a name!) 841 became a local folk hero as she continued to live out her best surfer girl summer and elude capture by wildlife officials. It was later discovered that 841 was pregnant while on her surfing spree, which she gave up post-natal. Chalk it up to the most California-coded case of pregnancy cravings, ever. So, did surfing sea otters flow out with the tide? NO! It’s happening again! They don’t know if it’s the return of 841 or a copy-otter, but once again, the wily sea otters of Santa Cruz are stealing boards:
“Wow, what do I do now?” On Wednesday, Isabella Orduna was catching some waves at Steamer Lane, a popular surf spot off Santa Cruz, Calif., when she felt a small nip on her foot. Startled, Ms. Orduna, a 21-year-old college student, rolled into the water. The moment she surfaced, she saw a “big, fuzzy, chunky bear of an otter” sitting on her board, she said. “I was like, wow, what do I do now?” The hijacking of Ms. Orduna’s surfboard was the first of two such incidents reported this week at Steamer Lane. On Thursday, another surfer had their board commandeered by a sea otter.
Someone called the police on the otter! Ms. Orduna, who is new to surfing, was about done for the day and heading back to shore when she had her otter encounter. “I’d call it an exploratory nip,” she said. “It didn’t puncture my skin or anything.” She tried tipping the board over and shouting to shoo the otter away, but the animal refused to budge. Onlookers on shore called 911. Within minutes, Ben Coffey, a marine safety officer for the Santa Cruz Fire Department, helped her back to shore, where she was found to have no injuries. Mr. Coffey then paddled back out to retrieve the board. After a brief struggle, the otter eventually relented, and Ms. Orduna’s board was undamaged.
Otter 841 really was a big deal: While such encounters can be dangerous for both otters and humans, Santa Cruz’s locals often celebrate them. After Otter 841’s brush with virality in 2023, her furry face was printed on T-shirts, she inspired an ice cream flavor and a marijuana dispensary’s billboard depicted her biting a surfboard above the words “warning: locals have the munchies.” Her fame only grew after wildlife officials tried to capture her. While officials pursued 841 in the water, residents booed them from shore and sported shirts that declared “being an otter is not a crime.”
Enough room for otters & humans to co-swim? The number of sea otters and the number of surfers in Santa Cruz have been steadily rising for years, so “things like this are likely to occur more frequently,” said Gena Bentall, director and senior scientist with Sea Otter Savvy, an organization that works to reduce human-caused disturbances to sea otters and promote responsible wildlife viewing. … “These otters have nowhere to go that isn’t absolutely packed with humans,” she said. According to a study conducted by Ms. Bentall and her colleagues, sea otters living in developed areas along California’s central coast are disturbed by humans an average of six times a day. Not only is this costing the sea otters precious energy, but it’s also causing them to lose their fear of humans, leading to more undesirable and risky interactions.
So according to this study, sea otters “are disturbed by humans an average of six times a day.” Hey sea otters: that’s just a fraction of the number of times I get disturbed by humans on a daily basis! No, no, I kid the silly water floofs. After all, we’re encroaching on their rightful habitats, teasing them with brightly-colored objects that just so happen to be chewable; I cannot honestly say that I wouldn’t succumb to the same lures. So what’s to be done about Enhydra lutris who are surf-curious? Well, Gena Bentall from Sea Otter Savvy says we shouldn’t be capturing and relocating otters over their abnormal interest in sports. (Sidenote: Sea Otter Savvy’s tagline is “Respect The Nap.” LOVE IT.) Instead, Bentall advocates for a very technical, scientific procedure: give the otters more space! They’re very cute, for sure, (and I mean, really flippin’ cute!). But wild animals should always be left to themselves to survive and thrive in their wild lives. And no joke, these critters can attack people wading into their waters. And personally, I don’t want to be around when they discover there aren’t any shellfish hidden inside those longboards. Hang 10… miles back.
From two years ago:
Photos credit: Stephen Leonardi and Mazin Omron on Pexels