Ferocious otter attacks triathlon swimmer

Triathletes swimming in open water are occasionally victims of vicious animal
attacks... even by the cute ones. Creative commons image by Forest Wander.

Many swimming triathletes are afraid of sharks, sea monsters, and jelly fish. Few think that the terror lurking in the deep may actually be a cute, furry otter. But as Cayla Gabruck of the Calgary Sun reported last Sunday, “animal attacks just keep getting odd-er.”

Triathletes Sanford and Mary-Jane Schmid put on their wetsuits on August 22 and set off to swim a 1,500m lap around Lake Lillian in Invermere, British Colombia. The unimaginable happened 250 meters into the swim when terror emerged from the deep and hit Sanford on the foot. “It just felt like someone was pulling on my foot, like something was going to grab me,” the victim explained. Schmid figured he’d just swum into a log, and resumed swimming.

Suddenly the monster attacked again, thumping Schmid’s foot for a second time. “At the time I didn’t know what it was hitting me... I was out there in the water, helpless, while it was attacking me,” a freaked Schmid told reporters. “I saw something come towards me in the water and I started kicking hard. I didn’t want whatever it was to bite me. I thought ‘the more I can move around, the less chance of it grabbing me.’” Some time during the beast’s blitzkrieg, a panic-stricken Mary-Jane fled to shore.

Terrified, Sanford sought refuge on a nearby wooden dock as the monster continued to assail him. During the fray he saw the fiend’s eyes, but still couldn’t identify his attacker’s species. “All you can see is this big brown animal coming at you through the water — you know it’s going to come at you, and there’s nothing you can do about it because you are helpless in the water,” the brave Schmid recalls.

Finally, after fighting the savage beast all the way to the safety of the dock, Schmid reached shallow water. He stood up and struck his first major blow. “I was standing in waist-deep water and he came around me again, but this time I reached down and hit him with my hand.”

The critter beat a hasty retreat, but then turned around and lunged at Schmid again. Finally, Schmid was able to pull his battered, war-torn body up on the dock while the otter swam underneath. Once out of the water, Schmid saw the chewed-up legs of his wetsuit and blood gushing from his foot. When our hero finally arrived to safety on the public beach, his distraught wife was waiting for him to take him to the hospital. Schmid was given oral and intravenous antibiotics, and a hearty tetanus shot at the hospital and sent home on crutches.

Let this be a warning to all of you: beware of what Gabruck has named “marauding marine mammals”. There was an incident of a rabid otter attack in New Bedford, MA in 2001.