Over the past few summers, countless surfers in Santa Cruz, California have fallen victim to a crime at sea: boardjacking. The culprit is a female sea otter, who addresses the wave riders, grabbing and even damaging their surfboards.
After a weekend in which the otter’s behavior appeared to become more aggressive, conservationists in the area said Monday they have decided to end these acts of otter theft.
“Due to the increasing risk to public safety, a team from CDFW and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, trained in capturing and handling sea otters, has been deployed to attempt to capture and rehome her,” said a spokesman for the California Department of Fish. andWildlife. in a statement.
Local officials call the animal Otter 841. The 5-year-old female is known for both her daring behavior and her ability to hang 10. And she has a tragic backstory, with officials now being forced to take steps to reverse the ways that the human desire to get close to wild animals can cost them their freedom, or worse, their lives.
California sea otters, also known as southern sea otters, are an endangered species found only along the central coast of California. Hundreds of thousands of these otters once roamed the state’s coastal waters, helping to keep kelp forests healthy while eating sea urchins. But as settlers moved into the west coast, the species was hunted to near extinction until a ban came into effect in 1911.
Today, about 3,000 remain, many in areas frequented by kayakers, surfers, and paddleboarders.
Despite these short distances, interactions between sea otters and humans remain rare. The animals have an innate fear of humans and usually go to great lengths to avoid us, said Tim Tinker, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has studied the marine mammals for decades. A sea otter approaching a human “isn’t normal,” he said, adding “but just because it isn’t normal doesn’t mean it never happens.”
Otters have been known to approach humans during hormonal fluctuations that coincide with pregnancy, or as a result of being fed or repeatedly approached by humans. That’s probably what happened to otter 841’s mother.
She was orphaned and grew up in captivity. But after she was released into the wild, people started offering her squid and she quickly got used to it. She was removed again when she began climbing aboard kayaks in search of handouts, and ended up at the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz, where investigators soon realized she was pregnant. In captivity, she gave birth to 841.
The pup was raised by her mother until she was weaned, then moved to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. To increase her chances of success upon release, the keepers of 841 took steps to prevent the otter from forming positive associations with humans, including wearing masks and ponchos that obscured their appearance when they were near her.
Still, 841 quickly lost its fear of humans, though local experts can’t explain exactly why.
“After a year in the wild with no issues, we started getting reports of her interactions with surfers, kayakers and paddleboarders,” said Jessica Fujii, sea otter program manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “We don’t know why this started. We have no evidence that she was fed. But it has persisted in the summers in recent years.”
Otter 841 was first sighted climbing aboard a personal watercraft in Santa Cruz in 2021. At first the behavior was a rarity, but over time the otter became bolder. Last weekend, the otter was sighted stealing surfboards on three separate occasions.
On Monday, 40-year-old Joon Lee, a software engineer, was surfing Steamer Lane, a popular surfing spot in Santa Cruz, when 841 approached his sign.
“I tried to paddle out but couldn’t get very far before he bit off my oar,” he said.
Mr. Lee abandoned his plank and watched in horror as the otter climbed onto it and ripped chunks out of it with her powerful jaws.
“I tried to get it off by turning the board around and pushing it away, but for some reason it was so fixed on my surfboard that it just kept attacking,” he said.
While Mr. Lee immediately recognized the danger he was in, not everyone in the water is so aware. Last month, 16-year-old Noah Wormhoudt was catching some waves with a friend at Cowell’s Beach in Santa Cruz when 841 swam up.
“I started paddling away to avoid it, but it got closer and closer. I jumped off my board and then it jumped on my board,” he recalls. “It seemed friendly, so we felt comfortable with it. It was a pretty cool experience.”
Caught in the excitement of the moment, Mr Wormhoudt said he “didn’t really feel like thinking about how it could bite my finger off.”
The young surfer watched from the water as the otter stayed atop his board as the swell rolled in.
Such situations are extremely dangerous, said Gena Bentall, director and senior scientist at Sea Otter Savvy, an organization dedicated to reducing human-caused disturbances to sea otters and promoting responsible wildlife observation. “Otters have sharp teeth and jaws strong enough to crush clams,” she said.
Contact with humans is also dangerous for the otters. If a human is bitten, the state has no choice but to euthanize the otter. And with so few sea otters left, the loss of even one individual is a hindrance to the species’ recovery.
If authorities succeed in capturing 841, she will return to the Monterey Bay Aquarium before being transferred to another aquarium, where she will spend her days. Her captors have done their job for them. Multiple attempts were made to capture her, none successful.
“She’s been quite talented at avoiding us,” Ms. Fujii said.
Until the otter can be caught, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking surfers to avoid her at all costs.
Experts also had a message for people sharing their encounter with a sea otter on social media.
“Reporting these interactions to the right staff and not sharing them on social media – where it could be misinterpreted as a fun, positive interaction where it might not – is really important,” Ms. Fujii said. “I know it’s hard to do. It gets a lot of likes and attention, but in the long run it can be harmful to the animal.”
