Jogger Attacked and Bloodied by Aggressive Otter Gang in Malaysia

Jogger Assaulted by Otter Gang

A woman was left blood­ied and in tears after being attacked by a group of eight otters while jog­ging in Tan­jung Aru Recre­ation Park in Sabah, Malaysia. The uniden­ti­fied vic­tim was report­ed­ly beset by the fur­ry crea­tures while run­ning through the park.

Aftermath of the Attack

Footage shows the woman sit­ting on the curb, cry­ing and cov­ered in blood, with vis­i­ble gouges and injuries on her arms, head, and legs. She was trans­port­ed to a hos­pi­tal for treat­ment fol­low­ing the vicious otter assault.

Otter Population and Behavior Change

Accord­ing to offi­cials, the otters that attacked the jog­ger are part of a near­by wild pop­u­la­tion that has been vis­it­ing the recre­ation park to for­age for food. They say the ani­mals’ behav­ior has changed, like­ly due to vis­i­tors feed­ing them in the past.

Prevention Efforts and Public Warnings

To pre­vent future attacks, the Sabah Wildlife Depart­ment plans to rein­force the fenc­ing around the park and mon­i­tor the area for any otter sight­ings. The pub­lic has been advised to avoid approach­ing or inter­act­ing with the otters, as their behav­ior has become increas­ing­ly aggressive.

Prior Otter Attacks in Southeast Asia

This is not the first time otters have attacked humans in South­east Asia. In 2021, a Sin­ga­pore res­i­dent was hos­pi­tal­ized after being bit­ten 26 times by a gang of otters in just 10 sec­onds, with the vic­tim say­ing he thought he was going to die.