Otters and cows may have a reputation for being cute and friendly, but both are capable of severely injuring humans.
This Wednesday, a woman was going for a jog in the park when she was attacked by a gang of otters. She said the animals emerged from a drain before they jumped at her and began biting.
That’s according to a report in The Star . It said the attack occurred at Perdana Park in the city of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. Mariasella Harun, a 40-year-old mother, routinely jogs there. She said she at first thought the creature coming out of the drain was a cat, but that she did see otters in the area last week.
There are 13 species of otters in the world, and a 2014 research article indicates four of them live in Peninsular Malaysia. Per The Star, otters are protected under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, and are usually found in or near lakes and rivers. Perdana Park is located near the coastline and there is a small body of water, Victoria Lake, in the park.
When the otters attacked Harun around 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, she fell and fought them off for what felt like five minutes. Other joggers came to her aid, but they were also attacked by the semiaquatic mammals.
“A viral video shows a pack of otters running along a drain towards Mariasella before attacking her,” said The Star. Harun said she did not go near the otters and does not know why they attacked her.
Left with injuries to her arms, legs and head from the attack, Harun was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There, she received antibacterial medication and a rabies vaccine. She said doctors told her she needed to be hospitalized for observation.
According to research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2016, a 52-year-old woman who was bit multiple times by a river otter in Quebec, Canada, also reported that she did not knowingly interact with the otter before it attacked. She sustained deep, open wounds on her legs and developed a soft tissue infection with in a week, even though she also received antibiotics and rabies vaccine. After new medication was prescribed her wounds did eventually heal without complications.
Harun said doctors told her the otter-inflicted bites she received could not be stitched immediately because of potential complications, per The Star. She said she was still traumatized by the ordeal.
Apart from the Canadian and Malaysian otter attacks, there have also been attacks reported in the U.S. In 2012, Minnesota Public Radio reported on multiple attacks there. Last August, otters attacked three women on the Madison River in Montana . Audacy reported on a man who was attacked by otters in Lake Tahoe, Calif., the following month. However, the Canadian Medical Association Journal said otter attacks are rare.
“Such encounters are often the consequence of human encroachment upon otter territory, and the resulting injuries may be quite severe, because river otters have sharp canines and carnassials,” it said. “Although uncommon, rabies in these aquatic mammals has been described.”
Harun’s attack is the first one reported in her area. Sabah Wildlife Department director Roland Niun said it is unusual for them to be so aggressive, according to The Star.
“They can sometimes be overly protective of their pups, and due to their territorial nature, may attack humans with their sharp canine teeth,” Niun explained. He said the otters who attacked Harun were able to get in the park through a damaged fence. It has since been repaired, said The Star’s report.
Although the entry point has been patched, Niun urged park-goers to avoid approaching otters if they see them and to not feed or provoke them in any way. They should instead report the sighting to the wildlife department so the otters can be captured and relocated.
Harun’s story wasn’t the only strange animal attack to make headlines this week. The Guardian covered Jill Gilmore’s attack by a group of cows in the English town of Stockport in a Thursday article .
Gilmore and her husband, Mark, were walking their dog on a public footpath when a heard of 20 to 30 cows appeared. They butted her to the ground, breaking both sides of her pelvis and 12 ribs as well as bones in her neck and arm. Gilmore’s lungs were also damaged in the attack and she sustained ankle injuries.
During the incident, Gilmore said she told her husband to leave her to die. After the incident, she underwent three days of surgery.
“Cattle cause significant numbers of deaths globally and are considered the most dangerous large animal in Britain,” said research published this January in the Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology journal . Per The Guardian, cattle are the most common cause of death in the UK agricultural industry.
Last year, Audacy reported on a similar incident to Gilmore’s, also in the U.K. A couple walking their dogs was surprised by a herd of cattle who trampled the husband to death and left the wife injured. This June, WWNY also reported on a cow who fatally injured a woman working on a farm in New York state.
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