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.

  • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    37·
    3 months ago

    Wow, talk about some blatant dog whistling here…

    Inner-city otters? Why not just call them musteld hoodlums? Or shrimp theiving thugs?

    How much you wanna bet that if this was an artic fox, or polar bear attack, the words inner city would never have appeared in this article…

    • scutiger@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      How much you wanna bet that if this was an artic fox, or polar bear attack, the words inner city would never have appeared in this article…

      Ok, that’s fair, but polar bears and arctic foxes aren’t known to frequent the tropics.

      • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        3 months ago

        Probably because people like you make them feel unwelcome.

        Did you ever stop and think that if you made them feel comfortable, that they might visit more often?

        • scutiger@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          I live nowhere near the tropics. In fact, I live in a place where I could actually see polar bears and arctic foxes if I was so inclined. I like that they exist, but I don’t want them anywhere near me, as specist as that may sound.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28·
    3 months 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
      3·
      3 months ago

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

    • Grimy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      20·
      3 months 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
        155·
        3 months 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
    111·
    3 months 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
      15·
      3 months 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.

    • Zanudous@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      3 months 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
    2·
    3 months 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.

  • Tylerdurdon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    24·
    3 months ago

    Otters are not built for speed on land. If you’ve seen one run, you know it’s and awkward hop-hop-hop movement. This lady couldn’t outrun them? Law of nature comes into play I guess.

    • pandapoo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      Here’s a still frame of the otters in question. I’m betting they could quickly surprise and surround anyone they caught alone. And would have no problem giving chase on land.