Move aside, grizzly bears and mountain lions. River
otters in Whitehall, east of Butte, Mont., attacked four people
swimming in the Jefferson River July 11, and the victims have
wounds and a 21-day series of rabies shots to prove it. Mike
Hannegan of San Francisco, Calif., said he was attacked by an otter
12 times while trying to help his son, Kevin, escape from the
animal. The Hannegans each received more than 20 stitches for
gashes in their arms, and Kevin also suffered cuts on his head and
gashes in his life jacket. Three hours later, Tina Smith of
Whitehall was swimming in the river when an otter chewed through
her shoe. The otter also bit Smith’s step-daughter, Penny Young,
and repeatedly bloodied her shin with puncture wounds. Smith and
Young said they saw two otters but weren’t sure if one or both
attacked them. State Game Warden Jim DeBoer says the muscular,
weasel-like creatures are common in the area but aggressive
behavior is not. “Some of the local dogs are a much bigger threat
than all of the otters put together,” he said. DeBoer said that
after the attacks, someone shot and killed an otter when it hissed
and snapped aggressively. DeBoer says the otter corpse is being
tested for disease.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Otters bite swimmers.
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