Gang of wild otters mauls jogger

lemme in@lemm.ee to World News@lemmy.world – 273 points – Gang of wild otters mauls jogger
telegraph.co.uk

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.

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Now I'm sitting here on the toilet wondering how many otters I could take on...

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.

I read this in the Baldur's Gate 3 narrator voice.

You can easily out run them, so you don't actually need to fight.

But if you did, I don't think you can take on more then two without any professional fighting skills.

Wow, talk about some blatant dog whistling here...

Inner-city otters? Why not just call them musteld hoodlums? Or shrimp theiving thugs?

How much you wanna bet that if this was an artic fox, or polar bear attack, the words inner city would never have appeared in this article...

How much you wanna bet that if this was an artic fox, or polar bear attack, the words inner city would never have appeared in this article…

Ok, that's fair, but polar bears and arctic foxes aren't known to frequent the tropics.

Probably because people like you make them feel unwelcome.

Did you ever stop and think that if you made them feel comfortable, that they might visit more often?

I live nowhere near the tropics. In fact, I live in a place where I could actually see polar bears and arctic foxes if I was so inclined. I like that they exist, but I don't want them anywhere near me, as specist as that may sound.

Looks like the animal kingdom is getting fed up with our bullshit. Real question is when does the alliance between otters and orcas happen?

Ok so the orcas are the navy, eagles are the air force, otters are obviously the marines.

That lady knows what she did.

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.

You would take thae human's side. Whatever. You hairless apes are all the same.

All I know is that no otter ever did me wrong. As long as I could fly away fast enough.

Despite their somewhat cuddly appearance, otters have teeth and jaws that are strong enough to crack open shellfish human fucking skulls.

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.

And They're in the same family as weasels, honey badgers, and wolverines.

Orcas, eagles, otters. I’m just glad my house cat is indifferent to politics

And what causes this behavior?

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.

It's more painful if it was lions. Like if a lion is attacking you and then an otter lion shows up you're screwed.

I'm otterly shocked! 😧

Btw in the local language their name can also mean something like "warring" so that kinda tells you something.

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!

Huh, I didn't know that. I couldn't see anything in that article so just used what I had seen. Thanks for the info.

No worries. Mustelids aren't very well understood by the general populace, so I don't hold it against anyone.

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.

It was a gang that was clearly lying in wait and.simultaneously jumped out of the bushes to surround her. Should have just gave them her wallet.