River otter drags child off dock, under water in Bremerton

A river otter pulled a small child off a dock and dragged them underwater at the Bremerton Marina Thursday morning.

According to a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife press release, a mother and child were walking down a dock when the otter attacked. It pulled the child underwater for “a few moments” before resurfacing, when mom was able to lift her kid out of the water.

The otter bit the mother on the arm, then chased the pair as they left the dock. On land, river otters can run at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

The child was treated at a local hospital for scratches and bites to the top of the head, face, and legs. A fish and wildlife department spokesperson declined to provide the child’s age or gender.

Direct clashes between humans and river otters are rare, with six documented human-river otter incidents in Washington in the last decade, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife .

The department warns that otters, like all wildlife, are “inherently unpredictable.”

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State officials say they have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program to remove and kill any otters at the Bremerton Marina.

The federal wildlife-control agency reports killing 73 river otters in Washington state in 2023.

Any otter carcasses from the marina are to be sent to the state’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab in Pullman to be tested for rabies and other diseases.

“Trapping or shooting river otters should be a last resort,” a fish and wildlife department brochure states. “Removing river otters by any means is a short-term solution since other otters are likely to move in if attractive habitat is still available.”

Other marinas in Kitsap County regularly trap river otters, which defecate on docks, chew through equipment, and sometimes nest inside boats, the Kitsap Sun reports.

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Though seldom seen, river otters are fairly common in many Washington waterways. They are powerful swimmers and nimble runners, and usually eat small fish — 4 to 6 inches long — though they will travel far to dine on spawning salmon. Adult males are about 4 feet long (including tail) and weigh up to 30 pounds.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services is a low-profile federal agency that controls and kills animals to protect crops, livestock, and property.

In 2023, Wildlife Services killed 150,000 animals in Washington state, mostly European starlings and Northern pikeminnows, a native fish that has thrived in the dammed waters of the Snake and Columbia rivers by eating young salmon and steelhead.

With noisemakers and other methods, the agency non-lethally dispersed 5.5 million animals, mostly European starlings, in 2023 in Washington.