Called Wildlife for a Reason

USPS stamps: Otters in Snow

Since it opened in 1984 the Monterey Bay Aquarium has featured sea otters, the endangered marine mammal whose playfulness and cutesy features have made them a popular attraction.

After decades of such favorable exposure, the affection for sea otters has often transferred to the other 12 otter species.

There are numerous otter toys, clothes, and dolls for sale this Christmas; when I asked for holiday stamps at the Post Office, the clerk pointed to "Otters in Snow", which wasn't really Christmas-themed but certainly cheerful enough.

The stamps, which I did purchase, are misleading, because most otter species are "opportunistic carnivorous mammals." Last week a Singapore man was viciously attacked by a raft of otters.

2020 photo of otters in Singapore park. (NYPost)

[Graham] Spencer, who is in his 60s, was reportedly approaching the visitors center when he spotted around 20 otters crossing a dimly-lit path in front of him....The animal encounter went south after a jogger ran through the pack, causing the fish-eaters to go “crazy like dogs” and try to bite the passerby...

Fortunately, the runner escaped, but the water weasels set their sights on Spencer, who believed they’d mistook him for the runner.

The ornery otters reportedly hit him in the ankles, pushed him down and leaped on top of Spencer, then proceeded to bite the prone man around his legs, shoes and buttocks, with one nipping his finger, according to the media reports.

“I was bitten 26 times in 10 seconds,” an aghast Spencer recalled to Today.

There, doctors administered Spencer tetanus shots and oral antibiotics and stitched up his wounds before discharging him the same day.

The endearing qualities of individuals do not necessarily pass on to other members of their family.