BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A uncommon assault by a river otter in southern Montana injured three ladies floating on interior tubes and inflicted wounds critical sufficient that one sufferer needed to be airlifted to a hospital, authorities stated Thursday.
The assault occurred close to the city of Cardwell on a distant stretch of the Jefferson River, a tributary of the Missouri River that is fashionable with anglers and leisure floaters.
A minimum of one otter swam as much as the grownup ladies at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday and attacked them, stated Morgan Jacobsen with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. The ladies had been in a position to get to shore, the place one among them known as 911, he stated.
One lady’s wounds, on her face and arms, had been so extreme that the helicopter was used to fly her out, Jefferson County Undersheriff James Everett stated. Her situation Thursday was unknown. The others had accidents to their arms.
“It is simply not one thing you run into fairly often,” Everett stated. “Bears do it, moose too and ocasionaly a deer, however otters? That is not regular.”
Jacobsen stated one of many ladies noticed two otters beforehand nevertheless it was unclear what number of had been concerned within the assault.
Northern river otters are members of the weasel household and might attain as much as 20 kilos (9 kilograms) — as heavy as a small canine — and as much as 47 inches lengthy (1.2 meters). They primarily eat fish.
They will can use their enamel and claws to chew and scratch, Jacobsen stated.
“If of us are attacked by an otter, our beneficial response is to battle again, get away and get out of the water,” he stated.
Warning indicators had been posted at entry factors alongside the Jefferson River within the space of the assault.
No otters have been seen there since Wednesday and there will probably be no efforts to catch or take away any of the animals as a result of it is believed to have been a defensive assault, he stated.
Two years in the past a 12-year-old boy on an interior tube was attacked however not significantly damage by an otter on Montana’s Large Gap River.
Final month in California, a sea otter gained widespread consideration for aggressively wrestling surfboards from surfers off the coast of Santa Cruz.