The common North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) is normally a pretty inoffensive beast. They stick to the water, feeding mostly on fish, crayfish, frogs, and other small creatures. They are seemingly good-natured animals, known for making mudslides on riverbanks to toboggan their long, furry bodies into the water, repeating the slide over and over. 

So it's otterly surprising when one attacks a (human) mother and child walking on a Washington marina.

A mother and her young child were attacked by a river otter while walking on a dock at a marina in Washington state on Thursday, wildlife officials said.

The child was pulled off the dock by the otter and briefly dragged underwater during the incident, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The rare attack occurred Thursday morning at a marina in Bremerton, located on the Puget Sound across from Seattle, WDFW said.

Rare is, if anything, something of an understatement. This attack is well otter the normal limits of these animals' behavior. Fortunately, the child who appeared to be the main subject of the attack had a mother who was not about to turn the otter cheek.

"The victim's mother reported that a river otter pulled her young child into the water as they were walking down the dock," the department said in a press release. "The child was dragged underwater, and after a few moments, resurfaced."

The mother was able to pull the child out of the water as the otter continued to attack, the department said. The animal continued to pursue them as they left the dock, it added.

The child sustained scratches and bites to the top of the head, face and legs, and the mother was bitten in the arm during the attack, WDFW said. The child was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries. The age of the child was not available at this time, a department spokesperson said.

It's good to see that the girl was not seriously hurt, in no small part because Mom was so quick in dragging her d-otter to safety.

One otter was later trapped at the location, was euthanized, and is being tested for rabies. That's a complication we hope doesn't arise, although it would explain the critter's aberrant behavior.

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Otters are as big as mustelids (members of the weasel family) get, but even so, attacks on humans are unusual. They are common across much of the northern tiers of states in the United States; we had them on the northeast Iowa trout stream on the property where I grew up, and we were otternally grateful to have them around — but then, we never heard of an Iowa otter attacking anyone.

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