OTTERLY INSANE

Woman Left With 38 Stitches After ‘Relentless’ Otter Attack

The victim scrambled over rocks to escape.

A swimmer was left covered in blood after an otter launched into a vicious, five-minute attack on her in Lake Tahoe. Lynnette Bellin was paddling near a beach around 8 a.m. on Sunday when the animal grabbed her leg. “It kept coming at me with teeth and claws. I tried to push it away, but this thing was relentless,” she wrote, adding, “I made my way to a rock, and it climbed up on the rock and kept attacking me.” After climbing a larger rock to escape, Bellin scaled a fence and walked barefoot along a nearby trail as the animal circled below. First responders rushed to the scene after onlookers saw her bloodied hands, face, and legs. Bellin, who has been swimming in the lake for 25 years, required 38 stitches and rabies shots. “A Game Warden came to my house to file a report, and they have people out on boats looking for it with plans to trap it,” Bellin said. Game officials noted otter populations have grown over 15 years, while wildlife experts suggested she may have inadvertently approached a protective mother and her pups.

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