James Younger was at Island View Beach Sunday night with his dog Lou photographing the aurora borealis when he saw them.
Five river otters, their eyes glowing and noses out, were cruising fast to shore. They were on the beach in seconds, growling and snarling and coming for his dog and maybe him, Younger said.
He quickly leashed the Labrador and backed away.
“They got within a few feet and I started swinging a seven-foot log and yelling to keep them away,” Younger said in an interview. “I could have thrown rocks, but I didn’t want to hurt them.”
Younger said it isn’t the first time he’s seen aggressive behaviour from otters at Island View. He’s a long-time resident of the area, owns Central Saanich Dog Walkers and hears the stories.
A few years ago, one of his previous dogs was grabbed by the tail by what he thinks are previous generations of the same otter family. His pooch at the time was lucky and only had some hair bitten from its tail.
In October 2018, a dog walker along Dallas Road had to rescue a golden retriever after witnesses saw three otters biting the dog and trying to pull it under the water.
The dog walker had to wade in and pull the dog to safety after the otters nearly drowned the pet. The retriever, named Goldie, suffered puncture marks on her back and bites on the tail and legs.
Another dog was attacked by otters at Clover Point in June 2018 while swimming about 25 feet off shore. One of the otters pounced on the dog’s back while another bit into the leg in a attempt to drag the dog down. The dog escaped.
Otter attacks are not common, but do happen. There are reports out of Anchorage, Alaska, in 2021 where a particularly aggressive group of otters was attacking dogs and even a child, who suffered bites as he was running away.
Younger is asking the Capital Regional District to post signs in the Island View area warning dog owners to keep their dogs close because of the resident otters.
The otters at Island View are believed to have long-time dens in the wild-rose patches and logs close to the beach.
“Five otters coming out of the water and confronting people is not really normal behaviour, especially when you don’t have food,” said Younger. “They followed me when I was taking a salmon to the cleaning table at Oak Bay [Marina] once, but you never see them coming out of the water so aggressively when I’ve got nothing they like to eat.”
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