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EmailSt. Michael Woman Attacked by Otter While Swimming in Aitkin Area Lake
A St. Michael woman had to get numerous shots after she was attacked by an otter while swimming in a lake near Aitkin last weekend.
Carol Schefers says she was swimming about 300 to 400 yards away from her family when something bit her twice. At first, she thought it was a muskie. She tried to swim back to her family in the boat, and she was attacked again.
She went to the hospital to get 30 shots and take antibiotics. In all she ended up having 18 bites on her hand, foot, legs and thigh.
Otter attacks are very rare, but there was one other attack in Minnesota this summer. The victim in that attack was Leah Prudhomme of Anoka.
Last month, she was training for a triathlon in Duluth when an otter bit her dozens of times.
Experts think she had been swimming close to a mother otter who was protecting her pups.
The DNR says there have only been about 40 otter attacks in the U.S. in the last 20 years.
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