Sinister river otters caught hunting and drowning majestic California birds

They’re otter-ly ruthless.River otters have been ambushing brown pelicans at a picturesque Northern California lagoon — dragging the massive birds underwater, drowning them and feasting on their dead bodies.Researchers counted a staggering 73 dead pelicans during a single season at Abbotts Lagoon in Point Reyes National Shore, where as many as 300 of the birds could be seen resting at one time, according to SFGATE.The gruesome hunting tactic was recently thrust back into the spotlight after wildlife photographer Daniel Dietrich shared footage captured in 2023 showing otters taking down two pelicans.Dietrich said in the caption of his video post that he believed it to be the first time the act had been caught on camera.But wildlife researcher Megan Isadore witnessed the bloodthirsty attack firsthand years earlier.Isadore, co-founder of the River Otter Ecology Project, was watching wildlife at the lagoon in 2018 when she spotted a brown pelican frantically flapping its wings.The struggling bird’s head suddenly disappeared beneath the surface — before an otter emerged and began eating it.“I realized the otter had grabbed the pelican, killed it by drowning it, and was starting to eat it,” Isadore told SFGATE.She and the other witnessed were “somewhat horrified,” she recalled.Isadore later began finding an increasing number of pelican carcasses scattered along the lagoon’s shoreline, prompting her and fellow project co-found Terence Carroll to investigate.The pair monitored the lagoon from June through November 2023, marking each carcass with a biodegradable marker to avoid counting the same bird twice and recording measurements to determine the victims’ ages.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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