An apparently angry otter attacked and bit a women triathlete in a Northern Minnesota lake.
Leah Prudhomme, 33, of Anoka Minnesota was bitten 25 times by an Otter as she was training for a local triatrhlon.
According to the Associated Press:
"Leah Prudhomme, 33, of Anoka, was doing a regular 1.5-mile training swim in Island Lake, 17 miles north of Duluth, on Wednesday evening. As she passed by a bog on the last stretch, she felt something bite her ankle to the bone: an otter."
“It had a gray head, little beaded eyes, and was very agile in the water. … It would just like latch onto my leg and latch onto my thigh,” Prudhomme said.
Prudhomme was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth where she was given shots for rabies and tetanus, plus antibiotics.
The AP goes on to report that, "The rare attack baffled experts who surmise the otter had rabies or was a mother protecting its young."
“I’ve never seen or heard of it before,” said Mike Scott, a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Duluth. “We’ve got otters everywhere … lakes, streams. Most times, (swimmers) wouldn’t even know it. Otters usually stay away.”
“My wetsuit tells the tale best because there’s just claw marks and chunks missing and lots of bites all over the wetsuit,” she said. “It’s pretty much destroyed now.”
Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube.