Otter bites Minnesota triathlete 25 times

pioneer press ^ | 7-16-12 | ap

[TurboZamboni]

ANOKA, Minn.—A veteran triathlete had to get rabies shots after she was attacked and bitten 25 times by an otter in a northern Minnesota lake. Leah Prudhomme, 33, of Anoka, was doing a regular 1.5-mile training swim in Island Lake, 17 miles north of Duluth, on Wednesday evening. As she passed by a bog on the last stretch, she felt something bite her ankle to the bone: an otter. She screamed for help as her father and young children watched from the shore.

Prudhomme sustained 25 bites—some more than 2 inches deep—before her father could rescue her in a boat about seven minutes later.

[TurboZamboni]

This would have been more appropriate had it happened in Otter Tail County.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otter_Tail_County,_Minnesota

[cripplecreek]

Prudhomme sustained 25 bites—some more than 2 inches deep—before her father could rescue her in a boat about seven minutes later.

Well he had to drive to town for gas first.

[Blado]

As she passed by a bog on the last stretch, she felt something bite her ankle to the bone:

on teh otter hand...

[Ann Archy]

I had no idea that otters bite....they look so cute in the water!

[dfwgator]

[txhurl]

Prudhomme said she’s thankful she wore her wet suit, which was shredded in the attack but likely saved her from more extensive injuries.

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Bath salts.

[Talisker]

The rare attack baffled experts who surmise the otter had rabies or was a mother protecting its young. "I've never seen or heard of it before," said Mike Scott, a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Duluth. "We've got otters everywhere ... lakes, streams. Most times, (swimmers) wouldn't even know it. Otters usually stay away."

[Persevero]

Do otters get rabid maybe?

[Ransomed]

Big, fast water weasels with huge teeth. I think I remember a croc hunter episode where they had to move otters from the enclosure, doing it gave them more problems than the crocs, they are very fast.

Freegards

[Boogieman]

“The rare attack baffled experts who surmise the otter had rabies...”

In humans, one of the signs of rabies is hydrophobia, fear of water. So, would a rabid otter even go near the lake?

[WorkingClassFilth]

Kayaking in the Boundary Waters, I was nearly attacked by an otter in a dispute over fish I had on a keeper trailing in the water. The little bugger was growling or snarling or whatever it is that otters do in mid-lake in heavy chop. He seemed to find my paddle formidable and left - to my relief. I didn’t relish a tangle with a 25 pound critter 6” from the surface of the water in whitecap water in the middle of a lake.

Of course, had the little creep pushed the matter, I had a M-6 Scout under deck and would’ve given him a dose of lead.

[TurboZamboni]

IIRC, any mammal can become rabid.

I have become rabid several times, back in my hard drinking days.