Woman, 40, badly hurt in park after eight of the carnivorous creatures launch early-morning attack

A group of wild otters viciously attacked a woman jogging in an inner-city park in Malaysia.

Mariasella Harun, 40, was chased and mauled by eight of the mammals on Wednesday morning in Tanjung Aru, in the northern Sabah state of Borneo island.

A graphic video of the aftermath showed the victim huddled on a pavement with deep gashes visible on her arms, as blood streaked her temple, T-shirt and leggings.

Another clip captured the bevy of otters – each as big as a small dog, with slick dark hair – charging across a car park moments before the attack.

It is the latest in a series of incidents involving humans and otters in the area. A man was recently taken to hospital after another unprovoked attack.

Otter attacks are increasing across the whole of South-East Asia, according to wildlife authorities.

Despite their somewhat cuddly appearance, otters have teeth and jaws that are strong enough to crack open shellfish.

They can weigh up to 14kg and grow up to 4ft, including their tail.

    • Zanudous@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      Looks like the park was fenced off (I assume they’ve built in their native habitat) and the otters managed to get through the broken fence. They we either hungry or got territorial.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    7 days ago

    It’s more painful if it was lions. Like if a lion is attacking you and then an otter lion shows up you’re screwed.

  • BedSharkPal@lemmy.caEnglish
    631·
    8 days ago

    Now I’m sitting here on the toilet wondering how many otters I could take on…

  • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    8 days ago

    Looks like the animal kingdom is getting fed up with our bullshit. Real question is when does the alliance between otters and orcas happen?

    • Agent641@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      Ok so the orcas are the navy, eagles are the air force, otters are obviously the marines.

    • Grimy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      8 days ago

      Someone was probably mean to them but it wasn’t her. She is also not the first to be attacked.

      She described finding herself suddenly surrounded by the pack after they “jumped out” from a drain in Perdana Park at about 6am local time.

      “At first, I thought it was a cat, but the creature jumped out and bit me while I was running, and there were many of them … I could not even stand up when it happened,” she told local media.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        236·
        8 days ago

        You would take thae human’s side. Whatever. You hairless apes are all the same.

        All I know is that no otter ever did me wrong. As long as I could fly away fast enough.

  • NineMileTower@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    8 days ago

    Despite their somewhat cuddly appearance, otters have teeth and jaws that are strong enough to crack open shellfish human fucking skulls.

    • Archelon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      8 days ago

      I once got to go behind the scenes at a zoo, including their vet’s operating room. They had a bunch of interesting stories about how they tranq and operate on different animals of various sizes, but the worst experience they had was with an otter.

      Poor little guy woke up partway through surgery, panicked, and went fucking berserk. Those little claws left gouges a foot long and an inch deep in the vet. And then, because they’re so small and fast, trying to re-anaesthetize it was a huge pain.

      Anyways, I think about that story a lot when I hear about otters.