It's been 2 years since a Santa Cruz oversea otter, known arsenic 841, garnered world attraction and personage by attacking surfers and their surfboards arsenic the quality wave-riders alley-ooped complete the waves of the legendary Steamer Lane.
It's happening again.
This time, the personality of the otter is unclear. That's because while 841 (who was calved successful captivity) carried a ray bluish tag connected her correct flipper, this otter is naked.
Experts opportunity 841 could person chewed disconnected her tag, aliases it could person surgery disconnected connected its own. Otter flipper tags are designed to past an animal's lifespan, but investigation shows they don't ever past truthful long.
It's besides imaginable this is an wholly different otter who whitethorn person watched 841 successful the past, and is adopting her funny and bold behavior. It could beryllium a relative. Or it could beryllium this otter conscionable has a akin surfboard appetite and hostage-taking drive.
On Thursday afternoon, about 3 twelve surfers were lined up to drawback waves astatine Steamer Lane -- conscionable beneath the Santa Cruz coastline's cliffs adjacent the city's iconic lighthouse and surfer statue.
Mark Woodward, a Santa Cruz-based societal media influencer and dedicated 841 perceiver and chronicler, said he wasn't judge whether this was 841, aliases personification different.
He said the animal's behaviors and M.O. were almost identical. However, while 841 tended to bent adjacent to the cliffs successful 2023, this otter appeared to walk much clip a spot farther retired -- person to the offshore kelp beds.
He saw 841 past year -- tag connected -- visiting the aforesaid waters but keeping her region from people.
The only otter seen connected Thursday was measurement disconnected shore, floating connected its backmost atop a kelp furniture -- presumably eating immoderate tasty morsel, specified arsenic a crab aliases abalone, retrieved from the oversea floor.
Pelicans glided complete the cresting waves, while a harbor seal watched the surfers for a spot earlier diving nether the aboveground and disappearing from sight.
During the summertime of 2023, federal wildlife officials tried to seizure 841. They sent retired boats, rafts and swimmers. She evaded each effort and yet gave commencement to a pup, whom she cradled connected her thorax arsenic she floated atop the h2o -- aliases placed connected apical of the kelp arsenic she dived to the bottommost to retrieve food. And she stopped chasing surfboards.
Eric Laughlin, spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the lead otter-response agency successful this case. However, perchance owed to the national authorities shutdown, the agency did not respond to questions about the surfing-curious otter successful Santa Cruz.
Laughlin said the authorities agency had nary plans "to intervene pinch the oversea otter presently interacting pinch humans successful Santa Cruz."
Research connected California oversea otters shows that on the cardinal coast, location is "extreme personality successful fare and behavior." Some of the variety is the consequence of comparatively debased nutrient availability, requiring the clever creatures to fig retired unsocial ways of uncovering and retrieving food.
However, the researchers besides noted immoderate behavioral traits seemed to travel family lines, particularly those "maintained on matrilines."
Otter 841 was calved successful captivity to a mother who had been captured aft spending excessively overmuch clip interacting pinch group and their watercraft. Since being released into the wild, she has fixed commencement to astatine slightest 2 pups.
According to Woodward, the otter now frequenting Steamer Lane has been actively pursuing surfers about each time since Oct. 16, erstwhile it spot a surfer named Bella Orduna and stole her board.
Dripping bedewed and donned successful a bedewed suit, Richard Walston, 55, said he hadn't had immoderate interactions pinch the surfer-curious animal -- and he's a predominant surfer successful the area.
"Sure, I spot otters," he said. "But they're truthful focused connected their food, I'm not judge they moreover announcement we're around."
Wildlife officials are urging surfers and boaters to support their region from this otter, and others -- not only will this trim the chances of an interaction, which could beryllium vulnerable for some group and otters, it is the law.