77-year-old woman attacked by rabid otter while kayaking
A 77-year-old kayaker is recovering after she was attacked by a wild otter in Florida.
Sue Spector told Fox 13 she was kayaking with her husband, Marty, and group of people early Sunday morning in the Braden River. She said she heard someone make a comment about seeing an otter, which was when it jumped on her.
The otter started clawing, scratching and hit at her arms, nose and ear.
“I took my paddle and I tried to get him off of me and he wouldn’t let go and I kept screaming, I kept beating him with a paddle,” Spector said. “When you’re [in the middle of] it you don’t have a lot of thought except you hope you survive.”
Spector’s kayak also flipped over at the time, causing her to fight off the animal as she was neck-deep in water.
“I heard someone behind me say, ‘Oh look, there’s an otter,’ then I heard somebody screaming and I realized it was my wife,” Marty Spector said. “My boat turned over and so I was in the water with a paddle, just trying to beat the otter of her back. It didn’t want to come off!”
The animal eventually got off her and the rest of the group kept the otter away while guide, Marsha Wikle, got Spector and her husband out of the water. She also helped the couple get back into their kayaks thanks to previous training she had.
Spector went to the emergency room Sunday and is now on antibiotics and is being treated for rabies. The attack on the 77-year-old came a day after another kayaker went to the hospital following a run in with an otter.
Spector said she felt lucky she was wearing a lifejacket because it prevented the otter from further attacking her with its claws.
Florida Fish and Wildlife have now put a sign near the area where Spector was attacked.
Source:- http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-attacked-otter-kayaking-florida-article-1.3861375
