Otter attacks girl, dog in Florida home

SOUTH LAKELAND, Florida (CNN) — A Florida mom says she had to tackle an otter to protect her daughter and dog.

In the Sunshine State, you don’t often hear about aggressive river otters.

But by fighting its way inside a home in South Lakeland,  experts say this otter was definitely not acting normal.

“My husband’s like ‘Case, you just alligator wrangled an otter in the living room!'” said mother Casina Ewert.

An otter learned you don’t mess with a mother’s instincts.

“I think life is full of surprises and you should just be ready for whatever,” said Casina Ewert.

The wild story starts after 17-year-old Gwen Ewert let the family’s dog Scooter out before dawn Tuesday morning.

Scooter had found an enemy.

“I sprinted to the backdoor and I was like ‘Scooter!’ All I saw was like a big black ball just all over the place. So he stumbled in the door and I tried to shut it as fast as possible, but then the otter got stuck,” Gwyn Ewert said.

By this time, the whole house is awake and Casina bursts in.

“He and the dog are in a big tangled tumbleweed, spinning around in here,” Casina said.

Then mom handles business.

“I grabbed it,” Casina said. “This is the chair. I walked by this chair and I was like ‘Somebody open the door’ screaming with it. And it grabbed on it and it was like pulling the chair back and he was like ‘eeeek.”

Casina tosses the otter outside and discovers it had bitten her daughter.

Several rabies shots later and both Gwen and Scooter are on the mend.

Now, Florida Fish and Wildlife is trying to find the otter.

A neighbor took this video of an otter in the area later that day

“I hope he comes up right here in front of me,” said Dustin Hopper of All Creatures Wildlife Control. “If it happens, just hold my sunglasses.”

He said he’s never seen an otter act like this.

“Any time an otter’s on shore going for a human, there’s something not right,” he said. “Usually they see you, they’re gone.”

The otter still hasn’t been caught.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission set up traps to catch the animal. The agency says it has received reports of an aggressive otter attacking another dog as well.