What started as a fun day cheering on friends quickly turned into a bizarre and painful nightmare for a North Carolina woman — after an otter suddenly launched out of the bushes and attacked her.
Erin Hogston, of Wilmington, was standing along a paved trail in Cary on Sunday, waiting for runners in the Tobacco Road Marathon, when she heard something moving behind her in the brush.
At first, she thought it might be something much bigger.
She says a dark-colored animal burst out so suddenly that she feared it was a bear — and took off running in panic.
That’s when things got worse.
As she tried to escape, Hogston tripped — and the animal lunged.
It clamped down on her ankle.
The attacker turned out not to be a bear or even a beaver, as she first suspected — but an otter.
The small, typically playful animal sank its teeth into her leg, leaving her with painful bite wounds and scrapes from the fall.
“Everybody was like, ‘we thought they were nice, we thought they were cute,’” Hogston said afterward. “I don’t see anything cute about otters now.”
She was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors treated her injuries and administered six rabies shots — a treatment that left even medical staff stunned.
“When I checked in, they were like, ‘you got bit by what?’” she recalled, adding nurses told her the incident was a first for them.
Hogston will need additional shots in the coming weeks as a precaution.
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Wildlife experts say attacks like this are extremely rare. According to officials, only 59 otter attacks have been documented worldwide since 1875.
“Otters, as a general rule, are not aggressive around humans,” said North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologist Falyn Owens. “Most people enjoy having them around, so a situation like this is extremely unusual.”
Experts say unusual behavior like this could be linked to illness, such as rabies, or a defensive reaction if the animal felt threatened.
North Carolina has only recorded one other similar attack in recent years.
Still, Hogston says the experience has changed how she views the outdoors — and she’s urging others to stay alert.
“You never know what’s going to be out on those trails,” she warned.
