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September 01, 2005
You Otter Be in Pictures…..
In previous posts I have several times mentioned the sea otters that live around me and occasionally take otter ‘dumps’ on my steps. Not that big a deal until you accidentally step in some with bare feet or go rushing out the door to work and suddenly find yourself gliding along the steps to a sudden assault on your olfactory senses. Face it, otters eat fish and seafood that stinks before it even gets processed in that special way that only an otter can. So it ain’t that pretty when it happens.
Last night a small group of otters, four to six of them I think, decided that the outside of my place was otter party central. Up and down the steps they were running and horsing around. I likened them to a bunch of teenagers keeping things lively around a Seven Eleven late at night when they know damn well they should be in bed. Judging by the racket they were even using my overturned canoe as a sort of slide or jungle gym.
But I didn’t mind too much. Raccoons would deserve a good shooting, but somehow, I just can’t get angry at the otters who share my domain. Why is that? They’re just too much fun.
Yesterday morning
I was lucky enough to look out and see a mother and her two young ones lounging about on one of my landings. She was just hanging around, occasionally scratching her neck while the kids were rolling around and play fighting. Exactly what kids should do on a nice summer day I figure.
I was even lucky enough to get a short movie clip of them by sneaking up on my balcony without making any noise.
I once had a herd or flock or stampede of them rumble down my steps one night. It woke me up and sounded like the whole place was coming down. When I looked out my window I saw them coming back down the steps and I counted thirteen of the beasts, so I waited until they were all there and I flashed on the lights and threw open the door shouting “BOO!” or some such moronic thing. Everything stopped as they turned and looked at me for about a second before exploding into a roiling ball of otters, off the edge of the deck and splashing away into the sea since the tide was up high. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Like a scene from a Monty Python movie, “Run away!! Run away! Get out of my way! Run, run, move. Eeeek!” And as you can see, otters aren’t little things either. They’re actually about three feet long when fully grown so one would want to avoid being in the middle of such a mass.
So no, I can’t be angry with the noisy otters, not even at 3:30 in the morning. Not when I get to see them the way I do. The way every National Geographic special or wildlife film tries to show them but can never do them justice. I love my otters.
~ AP
Posted by Anonymous Pundit at September 1, 2005 10:44 PM