Girl attacked by wild river otter whereas swimming in Lake Tahoe

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KGO) – A swimmer is recovering after she was attacked by a river otter in Lake Tahoe on Sunday.

“It, like, ripped the goggles off my face. Ah, yeah it got me on the temple here, on my cheek, my nose,” Lynnette Bellin stated.

Bellin suffered accidents to her face, legs and arms from the assault and needed to get 38 stitches.

“Like claw marks there, I have full on bite marks on this arm,” she stated pointing to the accidents.

She stated it occurred on her weekly swim within the lake.

Ironically, she was attempting to get again to show a self-rescue lesson.

“And right before I got there, I got grabbed by the lake, yanked underwater. It was so powerful it felt like a human,” Bellin stated. “That’s when I saw the otter and it just did not hesitate. It started coming after me. It was teeth and claws and teeth and claws.”

She escaped by utilizing her coaching and climbing up on a rock.

Immediately after the assault, Bellin posted on social media.

“This has never happened. Oh my God,” she stated.

She recorded whereas strolling three-quarters of a mile to a hidden seaside.

“So now I am just freaking out all these people on the bike path because I’m dripping blood everywhere,” Bellin stated.

People alongside the way in which known as authorities, who have been stunned to listen to what had occurred.

“Every single authority that was like coming to do a report on this was just like, we’ve never had an otter attack. Are you sure it was an otter? Yeah, I’m like sure looks like that was what I was fighting off,” she stated.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife put out an announcement saying, partly, that river otters are native predators and are present in Lake Tahoe and its surrounding waterways. While assaults on persons are unusual, otters are wild animals and may turn into aggressive in the event that they really feel threatened, cornered or are defending younger.

“Be wary,” Bellin stated as a phrase of recommendation to others. “I understand I was in a wild animal’s habitat.”

Bellin believes the incident occurred as a result of she was swimming near shore and the otter was most likely defending its younger.

“I think the most disconcerting thing is that Lake Tahoe is always been my sanctuary, my peace,” Bellin stated. “I go there to get mental calm and you know, just to regulate myself. I have 38 stitches right now. So, I can’t swim until those are all healed up. But you know, September is a great time to be swimming in the lake so I’m sure I’ll find myself in there eventually.”

The Nevada Department of Wildlife stated it’s working with Nevada state parks to publish indicators within the space alerting guests to the reported incident and reminding the general public to concentrate on their environment and provides wildlife loads of area.