{"id":8265,"date":"2026-09-02T19:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8265"},"modified":"2026-09-02T19:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:09:08","slug":"it-immediately-started-attacking-me-otter-leaves-lake-tahoe-swimmer-bleeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8265","title":{"rendered":"‘It immediately started attacking me’: Otter leaves Lake Tahoe swimmer bleeding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Swimming teacher Lynette Bellin had been swimming for three-quarters of a mile along Lake Tahoe\u2019s picturesque rocky northern shoreline this week when something that felt like a pair of hands grabbed her leg and yanked her underwater.<\/p>\n

Read more Hikers who used AI to plan their Mount Shasta ascent are rescued after 2-day ordeal<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was human,\u201d Bellin said. \u201cIt was so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

But her assailant had paws, not hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI turned around and that\u2019s when I saw the otter, and it immediately started attacking me,\u201d Bellin recalled after the river otter attack Sunday near Incline Village.<\/p>\n

As she tried to swim to safety, the animal clawed her legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it approached my torso, I would try to push it away to deflect it, but every push seemed to make it attack more viciously,\u201d said Bellin, of Reno, who teaches swimming safety to kids.<\/p>\n

Scrambling to escape the \u201crelentless\u201d attack, Bellin tried to climb out of the water onto some rocks, but she slipped off. She swam toward another rock, \u201cand the otter continued to attack my legs as I tried to flee,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After she managed to get up on a rock, \u201cthe otter climbed up and started attacking me on the rock as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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The animal only retreated when she reached about 10 feet above the lake. But it kept circling, she said.<\/p>\n

Bleeding from her legs, face and hands, Bellin pondered her route out. \u201cThere was no way I was getting back into the water,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She climbed granite boulders to reach a bike path, and walked back to the beach where she\u2019d left her belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have\u00a0been swimming in Tahoe for over two decades and have never seen anything besides minnows and crawdads,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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