 OTTERS BITE THREE PEOPLE ALONG COAST Miami Herald -- Thursday, March 29, 2001 By: Associated Press WAVELAND -- Two otters left their normal freshwater habitat, found their way to the ocean off this beachside town and wound up nipping three people, one a surfer floating on his board. Health officials advised the victims to get rabies shots as a precaution, even though the one otter captured showed no signs of being rabid. "In my 18 years here, I never dealt with an otter bite, and never have I heard of one, let alone two, turning up in the ocean," St. Lucie County Environmental Health Director Jim Moses said. Their normal homes in this area are in freshwater creeks and rivers feeding into the brackish Indian River Lagoon, which runs inland of Hutchinson Island. Waveland is on the barrier island, about 45 miles north of Palm Beach. Authorities believe there were two otters because of the timing of the reports, Moses told The Stuart News for a news story published Wednesday. A surfer in the ocean about 100 yards out was bit on the leg in the first of the Saturday incidents. A short time later, an otter sleeping on the beach was startled by a man and a woman who stopped to take pictures and pet the animal. The otter jumped up and bit the man, then bit the woman at least four times. "When I got the 911 call, saying somebody had been bitten by an otter on the beachÉ my first reaction was, 'No way'," said Karen Taylor of county animal control. "I've been at this 20 years and never heard of such a thing." Taylor caught one and took it to the local Humane Society, which later released it into Savannas State Preserve. The woman who was bitten was receiving rabies shots. Her husband and the surfer declined treatment. "Right now, based on what we know, there is no reason for concern," Moses said. But he added, "This was an attack by a wild animal that was someplace it's not normally found. I'd take every precaution if I was the person who was bit.'" Copyright (c) 2001, The Miami Herald |