![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4Y3HRMISYFA23PCPNGMNKTTXIE.JPG\")
An Alaska Department of Fish and Game sign warns of potential danger from an otter at Sand Lake in Anchorage on July 28. (Marc Lester \/ ADN) <\/p>\nAn Alaska Department of Fish and Game sign warns of potential danger from an otter at Sand Lake in Anchorage on July 28. (Marc Lester \/ ADN) <\/p>\n
Wildlife officials are warning people to avoid river otters after two recent attacks in Anchorage, including one in the Taku\/Campbell area this week. <\/p>\n
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game urged people to watch out for aggressive animals in an alert Wednesday<\/a>, a day after a man was injured when an otter approached him and a group of children along Campbell Creek near Taku Park. <\/p>\n Late last month, a child on a paddleboard was bitten during an encounter with a group of four river otters on Sand Lake, according to the statement. Fish and Game officials said otters also acted aggressively with a dog, which wasn\u2019t injured, in the same area.<\/p>\n River otters are found throughout Anchorage\u2019s lakes and streams, often in groups<\/a>, and can be territorial, biologists say. They can travel both overland<\/a> and by using Anchorage\u2019s connected bodies of water. <\/p>\n Fish and Game officials said in Wednesday\u2019s statement that they had few details about the otters involved in the encounter this week, as well as their group composition.<\/p>\n A Fish and Game biologist didn\u2019t immediately respond to messages Wednesday afternoon. <\/p>\n Officials discouraged people with the semiaquatic mammals<\/a> on their property from allowing otters to get access to water equipment like rafts, kayaks or paddleboards. Fish and Game also said pets should be kept away from river otters. <\/p>\n Biologists encourage the use of bear spray or loud noise to scare off river otters acting aggressively toward humans. <\/p>\n Officials asked people approached by a river otter to notify Fish and Game of the encounter using the agency\u2019s online reporting tool<\/a> after leaving the area. <\/p>\n River otters attacking dogs<\/a> or humans near bodies of water<\/a> in Anchorage isn\u2019t unheard of<\/a>, but it is rare, the agency said. <\/p>\n Rabies hasn\u2019t been documented in river otters in Southcentral Alaska in recent years, though wildlife officials said there was a chance humans could contract the disease from an encounter with the animal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Alaska Department of Fish and Game sign warns of potential danger from an otter at Sand Lake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,347520,347521,79],"class_list":["post-819493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-otter-warning","tag-sand-lake","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819493","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=819493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/J56OYY6DRFE25DS67FDJZLENSY.JPG\")
View of Campbell Creek from a pedestrian bridge near Taku Park on Wednesday, Aug. 19. (Bill Roth \/ ADN) ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WMXQUJH6EBEEBGDQ2ABBGGG36A.JPG\")
A river otter prepares to eat a rainbow trout it brought up through an ice fishing hole in a small lake in Anchorage in March 2023. (Bob Hallinen photo)<\/p>\n