At the end of August, Lynnette Bellin was attacked by an otter while swimming in Lake Tahoe.
Although river otters live in Lake Tahoe, until the attack on Bellin went viral, they have been mostly unnoticed.
Todd Steury, who studies wildlife ecology and management, has a theory about how this happened.
“In a situation like this, moms with pups can often be the source of an attack, because they are protecting those pups and they feel threatened,” Steury said.
Biologist Will Richardson, says otters were gone from the Tahoe basin and possibly most of the Truckee River watershed for decades.
“Otters have come back into the watershed in a pretty major way,” Richardson said.
North American river otters are one of many species of mustelids, a carnivorous weasel family, that live in the Tahoe region.
And while they may be Tahoe locals, it doesn’t explain why Bellin was attacked.
On the morning of August 30, Bellin set off on her typical Sunday swim down the east shore of the lake. About halfway into her paddle, she was attacked by an otter.
"I felt something grab my leg and pull me underwater, and it was so powerful I thought it was a human. I turned around and was face to face with an otter,” Bellin said.
Bellin said it happened out of nowhere, and lasted for several minutes.
“There was a lot of shock but I didn’t have time to think about that cause this thing just started attacking me within a split second. It was just coming after me with teeth and claws, repeatedly,” she said.
Bellin struggled with the otter for a while before she was able to get out of the water. But that still didn’t stop the attack.
“It didn’t leave me alone until I was up on a rock about ten feet above water level,” Bellin said.“I ended up with 38 stitches that day and 7 rabies immunoglobulin shots, into my deepest wounds.”
Bellin said she wasn’t instigating any wildlife or doing anything out of the ordinary.
Another explanation for the recent otter attacks is a rise in human presence around the Tahoe region.
Increases in tourism and people moving into the Tahoe area means more people are coming into wild animals’ territory, Steury said. And encounters are more likely.
“Sometimes we see an increase in human animal interactions not because of changes in animal behavior but because humans have moved into the habitat, moved into places they are and so we start seeing more of these human wildlife interactions,” Steury said.
Richardson agreed that the increase of humans into these animal’s habitats has a mutual effect on both animals and people.
“Bear populations are increasing, tourist populations are increasing, there are more cars on the road, there's more roadkill. The more people, the more impact on the wildlife,” Richardson said.
Both Richardson and Stuery agree that it’s best to stay away from wildlife as much as possible.
“The hope is that because we can’t really control what animals do, that humans would do their best to avoid and stay away from animals and not feed animals,” said Steury
If you do encounter an otter in the lake, Steury said to swim away while facing the animal, make loud noises and try to look big, splash at the otter or throw something at it. And if it still attacks, fight back.
