Rampaging otter breaks into family home, attacks daughter and dog

A high school biology teacher from Lakeland, Florida, was forced to fight off a savage otter after it broke into her family's home and attacked her 17-year-old daughter and pet dog.

Casina Ewert was woken up to the sound of her daughter's screams and rushed downstairs to find an otter in her kitchen.

The incident occurred on the morning of February 4, when Casina's daughter, Gwyneth Ewert, let their family dog, a 2-year-old French bulldog called Scooter, outside their house. Soon after, Gwyneth heard Scooter barking and screeching on the back porch, leading to her opening the door.

More on this otter attack in the video below:

However, when she let Scooter in, he was quickly followed by a rampaging otter. Speaking to The Ledger, Casina said: "She tried to shut the door, and it pushed its way in, hissing and screaming."

Once inside the house, the otter then turned and bit Gwyneth on the leg and attacked Scooter.

Recalling the moment she ran downstairs and into the kitchen, Casina said: "There was blood on the floor, the otter was hissing, and my daughter was screaming. It was going to kill my dog and had already bitten my daughter."

The mother then grabbed the otter by its tail and held it up in the air, causing it to "thrash around" and attempt to bite her. Once the otter was in her hands, the mom knew what she was dealing with: "That is when I looked at it and realized it was a crazy otter."

Speaking to NBC 15, the mom said: "He and the dog are in a big, tangled tumbleweed, spinning around. I snatched it by the tail, and then, I held it up like a prize. The otter’s going crazy. It was clawing at me and grabbing on to the backs of the furniture in my house."

Casina quickly ran to the back door and threw the otter outside, slamming the door shut behind it.

"I would do anything to save my kid", the brave and devoted mom told The Ledger.

The family said the immediate concern was rabies, as Gwyneth found out she is allergic to the rabies vaccine after she was previously bitten by a stray dog while doing mission work in Nicaragua.

Her mom said: "She goes into anaphylaxis shock, her throat closes and she turns white. The LRMC staff knew of her past reaction and we took every precaution when giving the vaccine. She did not react (this time)."

Scooter sadly came away with scratches and several lacerations on his face and feet. After receiving a rabies booster he will need to be quarantined for three or four months.
Dustin Hooper of All Creatures Wildlife Control said that in all his years working in wildlife trapping, he has never seen or heard of an otter attack. Speaking to NBC15, Hooper said: "Any time an otter’s onshore going for a human, there’s something not right. Usually, they see you, they’re gone."