{"id":485264,"date":"2026-10-05T00:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/485264\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T00:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:18:16","slug":"otter-gets-in-tense-standoff-with-young-surfers-off-california-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/485264\/","title":{"rendered":"Otter gets in tense standoff with young surfers off California coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

An otter may have been looking for a fight with a group of young surfers at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The aquatic critter approached the group and climbed on top of one surfer\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

A witness caught the interaction on video and told ABC 7<\/a> that the otter appeared as though it wanted to attack the surfers \u2014 though, of course, what the otter was really thinking remains unclear.<\/p>\n

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An otter approaches a youth surf club and climbs onto a surfer\u2019s board at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz. Instagram\/@skin_dizzle<\/p>\n

Before things took a turn, one of the surfers charged toward the otter to scare it away, creating some distance between the animal and the group.<\/p>\n

The otter looked like it was going to attack the young surfers. Instagram\/@skin_dizzle<\/p>\n

No injuries were reported from the interaction, but it is among a growing list of encounters involving these kinds of sea creatures along the California coast.<\/p>\n

At one point, the otter got on top of one of the surfer\u2019s boards. Instagram\/@skin_dizzle<\/p>\n

In September, Heather Gray, a woman paddle-boarding off the coast of Santa Cruz, suffered a nightmare encounter<\/a> with an overzealous sea lion that sent her straight into the water, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Gray was attacked around 8 a.m. while paddle-boarding between Capitola Wharf and Privates Beach near Pleasure Point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018what, what\u2019s happening,\u2019 it was like a horror movie,\u201d she told KNTV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gray was bitten on her arm, hand and feet before she was able to fight off the sea lion.<\/p>\n

Video of the incident captured by the website Surfline showed the moment Gray was knocked off her board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that was the most bizarre was that it grabbed my hair,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After the attack, she managed to get back on her board and headed straight for shore, but the sea lion followed her, according to the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so used to seeing them get really comfortable with them, and I knew this wasn\u2019t really like normal,\u201d Gray told KNTV.<\/p>\n

A friend eventually took Gray to urgent care for treatment, where she received tetanus and rabies shots because of the bites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that there\u2019s a lot of sea lions that are sick right now, so my first thought was, \u2018Oh my gosh this was one of these sick sea lions,\u2019\u201d Gray told the station.<\/p>\n

This year, the Marine Mammal Center said sea lions and fur seals around Monterey Bay have been suffering from domoic acid poisoning<\/a>. Researchers still don\u2019t know why there\u2019s been an increase in the number of animals affected.<\/p>\n

The center said the toxin can cause animals to behave unpredictably.<\/p>\n

\u201cDomoic acid poisoning is caused by harmful algal blooms,\u201d the center said. \u201cThe neurotoxin accumulates in small fish that are eaten by marine mammals including sea lions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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