This otter had a close call and lived to tell about it. He was lucky a man named John Dornella was nearby on his boat. Had the boat not been there, the otter would have ended up as a whale’s dinner. It was that close.
Taken a few months back in July and captured in Halibut Cove, Alaska, John was lucky enough to witness the moment. He could see the Orca chasing the by then frantically swimming otter just a few meters from his boat.
A Sunday to remember.
It was certainly a gorgeous day out, the mountains providing a perfect backdrop to that picturesque sky along with the rippling of the water but look out and you’ll see the dorsal fin of the killer whale getting way too close to that little dot of a head that is the otter.
Even John knew that otter was in serious trouble. It’s no different from Frodo being hunted by the Nazgul. Small, helpless, with nowhere to run, the otter had to use its head and come up with a way to elude the massive hunter.
No to otter defeat!
John sounds like he’s providing commentary to a one sided mixed martial arts fight by now. The otter disappears for awhile but as John moved his camera around, he found the otter by the side of his boat. The poor thing kept looking around for the thing that wanted to have him for dinner.
All aboard!
The otter clambers on to the boat right where the engines are. The little guy shakes his furry head to get rid of the water. And the fear that gripped his entire being. And where’s the whale? Right there by the engines. Wow!
Even John was in disbelief and shock. The otter faces John with a face that seemed to beg him to start moving the boat.
It can be scary out there.
John tries to reassure his new visitor that he’ll be fine but the otter suddenly moves away from John realizing that it’s another huge creature that might want him on a plate. So the otter moves to the edge as if to jump back into the water… Nope.
“I’m not gonna’ hurt you. You’re good.”
The otter tries to move away a bit but there’s nowhere to go. And John can’t put it into gear for fear of scaring or hurting the otter who’s sitting by the engines. Eventually, the otter gets back in the water.
It swims around a bit but then gets back on the boat. Pretty sure it knew the killer whale was still in the area. The otter gives John THAT look again. John understands. It finally jumps on to the actual safe part of the boat. Awkwardly, with a tumble, but at least he’s safe.
That Orca must be so annoyed.
John’s friend, Chantrelle Major, was filming the whole scene from another boat. She had a shot of the killer whale still circling John’s boat. Which by the way isn’t a big one. That Orca is hungry.
It’s a good thing the Orca headed off after awhile with John finally able to leave the area with his stowaway still with him. The otter got off when it knew he wasn’t going to end up on a killer’s plate. And when it got back home, the otter had a tall tale to tell his family.
This was the moment the otter saw its life flash before its eyes. Check it out below!
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