Videos show sea otters stealing surfboards in California as people joke they've joined the 'orca uprising'
Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
- Sea otters in California are stealing people's surfboards, according to multiple reports.
- One otter, who was filmed forcefully hijacking a surfboard, has been captured, officials said.
- People are joking they have joined the "orca uprising" in reference to the recent orca attacks.
Sea otters have been filmed aggressively stealing surfboards away from swimmers in California — and now people are joking they've joined the "orca uprising."
One sea otter, in particular, has been deemed a public safety risk after it aggressively hijacked a surfer's board off the shore of Santa Cruz, California, a video posted to Twitter on Monday shows.
The otter is filmed lying on one side of the board, as the nervous surfer paddles around it trying to get it back. At one point, the sea otter flips the board on its front and then starts tearing it up with its teeth.
The native Santa Cruz photographer who took the video, Mark Woodward, told ABC News affiliate KGO that the interaction was like a "wrestling match."
The otter was captured and will most likely stay in captivity, KGO reported.
"Basically, the board was destroyed," Woodward said, adding that this was not the first sea otter attack he had seen in the area recently.
"Since then, in the past five days now, there's been three more incidents of it," Woodward told KGO. "And they've all been much more aggressive. I have photographed a lot of otters over the years, I have never seen anything like this."
"Literally the day before, I filmed the surfer that got so freaked out by it that he left his board and swam back to shore without it," he added.
Other photos taken by Woodward show otters lounging on top of another captured surfboard.
—Native Santa Cruz (@NativeSantaCruz) July 10, 2023
The footage of the otters has attracted a flurry of jokes, with many people comparing the incidents to the recent rise in orcas ramming into vessels off the coast of Spain and Portugal.
The orcas have been recorded ramming into hulls, smashing rudders, and even sinking some boats. Some scientists believe the orcas are acting out against humans based on past trauma.
"The otters have joined the war," one person tweeted, while another tweeted: "Sea Otters joining the Orca uprising."
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) told KTVU that the sea otters are showing "concerning and unusual behavior" and warned that people in the area stay away from them.
It is possible the animals are acting aggressively due to humans constantly feeding them or hormonal surges, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told KGO.
"They're actually pretty aggressive animals," San José State University's Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Professor David Ebert told KGO. "They're not as cute and cuddly as people tend to think."