helped one local surfer return to shore<\/a> late Wednesday after an otter hopped onto the deck of her longboard and lounged atop its waxy surface for an extended period of time before swimming away.<\/p>\nA similar situation played out in the same area Thursday afternoon around the same time Thaler\u2019s photo was taken. According to bystanders, there were at least two otters feeding directly in the \u201cthe lineup,\u201d the pocket of ocean water where surfers assemble to wait for breaking waves.<\/p>\n
Mark Woodward, a local photographer who captured photos of the Wednesday incident, returned to his same perch above Steamer Lane Thursday to see if the peculiar interactions would persist. His instincts were correct.<\/p>\n
After initially finding the surfers and sea otters coexisting without incident, Woodward told the Sentinel he walked away to observe other parts of the coastline. But by the time he came back to his original spot about five minutes later, he saw that an otter had hopped onto another surfboard, only this time it was a shortboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess (the otter is) trying out sizes,\u201d Woodward joked.<\/p>\n
A teenage surfer managed to shake the otter off the board and began to paddle away, but Woodward said the otter pursued the surfer and grabbed on to his leash while \u201cliterally at one point pulling him backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
The surfer eventually managed to overpower the intrepid marine mammal and glide away while the otter shifted its focus back to feeding.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The otter) didn\u2019t seem like (it) was going after the surfer at all. (It) just wanted that board,\u201d said Woodward. \u201cOnce they lock on a certain board, that\u2019s the one they focus on. They ignore the other boards around them and keep going after that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
A warning sign was stood up Thursday at the stairway that leads down to Steamer Lane cautioning those who enter to be mindful of their surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWarning. Aggressive sea otter in this area. Enter the water at your own risk. Keep away from marine wildlife,\u201d the sign read.<\/p>\n
Santa Cruz Fire Department spokesperson Katie Lee said the signage had been provided to the city by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The sign notes that any interactions can be reported to the Monterey Bay Aquarium at 831-648-4840.<\/p>\n
In terms of a response from wildlife officials, Bentall said it\u2019s her understanding at this time that no further action \u2014 including efforts to capture any otters \u2014 will be taken beyond the warning signs.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel reached out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, but those officials deferred to counterparts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, since the southern sea otter is a federally protected species under the agency\u2019s purview.<\/p>\n
After emailing a staff member at the federal agency, the Sentinel received an automated response explaining that due to the current government shutdown, the worker had been furloughed and will return once funding appropriations were approved by Congress.<\/p>\n
A representative from the Monterey Bay Aquarium said in an emailed statement that its sea otter program staff would follow the lead of federal fish and wildlife authorities if contacted for assistance.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bentall explained that the unflinching behavior of the otters can be viewed through the lens of human habituation. About 3,000 sea otters inhabit the waters just off the California coast and most of the territory they live and feed in is shallow enough to overlap with human activity. So in a location as famous as Steamer Lane that consistently attracts an abundance of surfers throughout the year, the otters may become more daring as their familiarity increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more prolonged the exposure of sea otters and their offspring are to human activities, the higher the likelihood that this is going to occur more frequently,\u201d said Bentall. \u201cThis is just a product of our ubiquity in their habitat and it\u2019s, in my mind, unavoidable and it\u2019s probably going to get more common.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to note, she added, that these interactions come with a high cost to the charismatic coastal creatures.<\/p>\n
Unlike other marine mammals, otters have no blubber and rely instead on a thick coat of fur to keep warm in the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean. But in addition to that, they must also constantly feed to maintain their body heat. Every time they encounter a human, otters have to shed energy that could be conserved by resting or used to find more food.<\/p>\n
Sea Otter Savvy has seven to nine study sites along the Central Coast where it observes sea otter behavior. Otters across all of those locations have a daily average of six interactions with humans, according to Bentall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey cannot live their lives that way because of the high premium on energy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Fish and Wildlife previously recommended<\/a> that kayakers should keep at least 60 feet away from sea otters and avoid large kelp beds. Bentall also said Wednesday that if surfers come into close contact with an especially puckish otter, they should do what they can to discourage that behavior by swimming away, making noises or splashing lightly.<\/p>\n\u201cI can\u2019t speak to what\u2019s going on in an otter\u2019s brain that\u2019s trying to get on a surfboard. I have no idea what the motivations are,\u201d said Bentall. \u201cBut certainly that accustomation to the presence of people is contributing to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 17, 2025 at 3:43 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CRUZ \u2014 When a colleague passed the photo along to sea otter expert Gena Bentall, she thought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2356,4887,192,97,2558,983,3,4910,6632,41029,10841,79,2628,18068,201],"class_list":["post-236207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-outdoors","tag-santa-cruz","tag-santa-cruz-county","tag-science","tag-things-to-do","tag-uncategorized","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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