COWABUNGA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sea Otters Are Stealing Surfboards in California. Again.
Two years after Otter 841 menaced wave riders near Santa Cruz, there have been new encounters between the furry marine mammals and surfers.
Two incidents of an otter seizing a surfboard in waters off Santa Cruz, Calif., have been reported this week. Credit...Shmuel Thaler/The Santa Cruz
On Wednesday, Isabella Orduna was catching some waves at Steamer Lane, a popular surf spot off Santa Cruz, Calif., when she felt a small nip on her foot.
Startled, Ms. Orduna, a 21-year-old college student, rolled into the water. The moment she surfaced, she saw a “big, fuzzy, chunky bear of an otter” sitting on her board, she said. “I was like, wow, what do I do now?”
The hijacking of Ms. Orduna’s surfboard was the first of two such incidents reported this week at Steamer Lane. On Thursday, another surfer had their board
commandeered by a sea otter.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because similar incidents happened there in 2023: A female sea otter known as 841 became
a sensation after she climbed aboard several surfboards and evaded capture.
It’s unclear if 841 is the culprit in this week’s cases. If it’s her, the cases may be written off as troublesome behavior by a repeat offender. But experts say it’s possible that another otter has begun to see the appeal of surfing.
That may highlight the need to manage clashes between a rising number of human aquatic sports enthusiasts and a resurgent population of marine mammals in their natural habitat. For now, people in the community are calling on surfers and others in the ocean to keep their distance for their own safety and that of the otters.
Ms. Orduna, who is new to surfing, was about done for the day and heading back to shore when she had her otter encounter.
“I’d call it an exploratory nip,” she said. “It didn’t puncture my skin or anything.”
She tried tipping the board over and shouting to shoo the otter away, but the animal refused to budge.
Onlookers on shore called 911. Within minutes, Ben Coffey, a marine safety officer for the Santa Cruz Fire Department, helped her back to shore, where she was found to have no injuries. Mr. Coffey then paddled back out to retrieve the board.
After a brief struggle, the otter eventually relented, and Ms. Orduna’s board was undamaged.
While such encounters can be dangerous for both otters and humans, Santa Cruz’s locals often celebrate them. After Otter 841’s brush with virality in 2023, her furry face was printed on T-shirts, she inspired an ice cream flavor and a marijuana dispensary’s billboard depicted her biting a surfboard above the words “warning: locals have the munchies.”
Her fame only grew after wildlife officials tried to capture her. While official pursued 841 in the water, residents booed them from shore and sported shirts that declared “being an otter is not a crime.”
The authorities eventually called off the otterhunt after discovering that 841 was pregnant. After she gave birth, she stopped trying to steal surfboards, leading many to believe her behavior was the result of pregnancy-related hormones.
Some thought this was the end of the chaos, but experts felt differently.
The number of sea otters and the number of surfers in Santa Cruz have been steadily rising for years, so “things like this are likely to occur more frequently,” said Gena Bentall, director and senior scientist with Sea Otter Savvy, an organization that works to reduce human-caused disturbances to sea otters and promote responsible wildlife viewing.
“The surfer didn’t do anything wrong,” Ms. Bentall said. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“These otters have nowhere to go that isn’t absolutely packed with humans,” she said.
According to a
study conducted by Ms. Bentall and her colleagues, sea otters living in developed areas along California’s central coast are disturbed by humans an average of six times a day. Not only is this costing the sea otters precious energy, but it’s also causing them to lose their fear of humans, leading to more undesirable and risky interactions.
The best way to keep surfers safe, Ms. Bentall said, isn’t to remove or euthanize offending otters, but rather to give them more space.
As a result of the current government shutdown, federal wildlife officials, who manage conservation of the otters, did not reply to a request for comment.
No one knows which otter is to blame for Wednesday’s longboard larceny.
“It’s not a huge leap to suspect that a past offender might be the perpetrator,” Ms. Bentall said. “But otters learn from one another. So you might have one otter that starts the behavior, and other otters see it and learn from it.”
Otter 841 was born in captivity to a formerly wild mother who had lost her fear of humans. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has long monitored 841, but she hasn’t popped up on their sensors since 2024.
“It’s possible her tag has since fallen off,” said Jess Fujii, the manager of the aquarium’s sea otter program.
They do know that since her crime spree in 2023, 841 gave birth to a healthy pup and traveled up the coast.
But whether 841 is back to her old ways, or has simply inspired other otters to hang 10, is irrelevant, Ms. Bentall said. She says the community has to come together to ensure people maintain a safe distance from otters and other marine mammals.
After Wednesday’s encounter, Ms. Orduna agrees.
“We’re guests in the ocean,” she said.
Ms. Orduna says she has gained a new respect for sea otters.
She is also looking forward to surfing again, “but maybe not at Steamer Lane.”
hmmmmmm…….
