Otter the chances! Hilarious moment pregnant sea otter leaps on surfboard and snarls at the owner when he tries to wrestle it back
- A black pregnant otter can be seen occupying a surfers board while out on the Pacific Ocean off the Santa Cruz coast
- The surfer appears to be at a loss as to how to deal with the situation and moves extremely cautiously around the otter for fear of being attacked
- Back on land his friends are in hysterics having never encountered such a situation in the past
- Eventually another surfer paddles out to him to give him a hand but the otter starts to give chase
- After about five minutes the otter finds something else to do and leaves the board behind while the surfer quickly heads back to shore
The is the hilarious moment a pregnant sea otter stole a surfer’s board while out on the Pacific Ocean in southern California.
Footage recorded earlier this month by Chad Underhill-Meras captures the standoff between a sea otter and his friend Nick ‘Parts’ Ericksen.
The five-minute video begins with the black otter occupying prime position on the surfer’s prized possession.
The surfer appears to be incredibly cautious around the sea animal and does not try to force it off his board for fear of being attacked by the possessive creature.
A black pregnant otter can be seen occupying a surfers board while out on the Pacific Ocean off the Santa Cruz coast
The surfer appears to be at a loss as to how to deal with the situation and moves extremely cautiously around the otter for fear of being attacked
Ericksen can seen splashing water at the animal, to little effect.
Back onshore his surfing friends, cannot believe what they’re witnessing and can be heard cheering and laughing at their friend.
‘The otter started gnawing and biting the board,’ Underhill-Meras said, added that the sea otter was likely pregnant, based on its girth and territorial behavior.
At one stage the otter has a quick dip into the water only to lunge at Ericksen.
The animal quickly manages to rebound back on top of the board.
Out of ideas the server attempts to slowly but surely bring the surfboard back to the beach.
No matter what the surfer did, the otter simply would not budge
Eventually another surfer paddles out to him to give him a hand
Although the video is shot from some distance away the surfer continues to be cautious around the otter and moves the board back to land extremely slowly.
Several minutes into the video another surfer can be seen cruising by and gives his friend a hand.
He eventually manages to bring the board a little closer to the beach but is the chased by the otter much to the hilarity of those looking on from the shore.
Eventually Erickson makes it back to land with the otter finding other things to occupy her time.
Eventually the otter finds something else to do and leaves the board behind while the surfer quickly heads back to shore
‘It climbed on and made itself at home,’ Erickson explained of the incident to CNN. ‘It’s like a pit bull puppy in a sense. it looks cute but know how dangerous it can be.’
”Apparently, this otter has been having episodes like this all week, and tried to bite several other people the next day,’ Underhill-Meras noted.
Posting the video to his Instagram, he joked: ‘Had a real case of the Monday’s yesterday.. A pregnant otter stole his surfboard, starts gnawing on it, and they had a standoff. At the end he gets a little help to get his board back, almost attacked at a couple points, then gets chased in like a true local.’
Underhill-Meras also tells how Ericksen was planning to have an otter tatto, but may now be having second thoughts.
Back on land his friends are in hysterics having never encountered such a situation in the past