Otter 841, who shot to international fame last year for her surfboard-stealing interactions with northern California surfers and kayakers, has been spotted recently after disappearing for several months. Over Memorial Day weekend, photos of the now six-year-old otter posted to social media showed her floating on her back at Steamer Lane, a popular surfing spot in Santa Cruz. She was identified by her signature blue tag attached to one of her flippers.
Otter 841 began making waves last summer after Mark Woodward, a local photographer, began posting images and videos to social media of her biting and commandeering surfboards. People were captivated by her fearlessness when interacting with humans and quickly projected human motivations to her behavior.
When Dustin Mulvaney, a Santa Cruz resident who has also posted several photos of otter 841 to social media, heard about the most recent sighting from Woodward, he and his children biked over to the cliffside above her usual hangout and caught a glimpse and photo of 841.
“It wasn’t too surprising since it’s her usual spot,” Mulvaney said. “Last time I saw her was December or November.”
As her star rose last year, people began to fill the waters she frequented to get an up-close look at her. These actions, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said, were incredibly dangerous to both the otter and humans, since otters have sharp teeth that they use to bite through shellfish.
“They’re extremely charismatic animals, so it doesn’t surprise me that when you put one on a surfboard, it becomes meme-able,” Mulvaney, who is also an environmental studies professor at San Jose State University, said of 841’s notoriety. “I think it’s cool because people are surprised to hear the story of sea otters and how their population was driven down to nothing.”