Too cute for comfort? Santa Cruz’s sea otters might have a publicity problem

Reports that a surfboard‑snatching otter is back at Steamer Lane aren’t just another quirky Santa Cruz oddity – they’re warnings, researchers say, about how our obsession with otter cuteness is reshaping the animals’ behavior.

The enduring popularity of otters might come as no surprise: The furry and playful marine mammals inspire a devoted fandom, from Otter 841’s global fame to the online frenzy over a vintage Monterey Bay Aquarium otter T-shirt after Taylor Swift sported it to publicize her new album.

But that cuteness comes at a cost.

While the charisma of these creatures has been key to successful campaigns to preserve the sea otter’s habitat, scientists who study them note the unintended consequence of their popularity — the adorable antics of surfing otters actually tell a cautionary tale about what happens when wild animals learn to live too closely to their human admirers.

Researchers say repeated, close human contact is teaching sea otters to shed their healthy wariness of people. That habituation — encouraged by tourism and recreation in places like Elkhorn Slough, just south of the Santa Cruz-Monterey county line — helps explain why some otters are now bold enough to climb onto surfboards in Santa Cruz.

“People have this impression of them as cute and cuddly, like a stuffed toy. They often travel to the Central Coast, specifically with the goal of seeing or encountering sea otters,” says Gena Bentall, director and senior scientist at Sea Otter Savvy, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about sea otters, their habitats and their needs.

She said the friction between surfers and sea otters at Steamer Lane is similar to behaviors she studies a few miles south at Elkhorn Slough. At the reserve, high levels of interaction between kayakers and otters could provide clues as to why otters are approaching surfers in Santa Cruz more often.

Adorable otters attract droves of visitors and millions of ecotourism dollars to Elkhorn Slough. There, otters thrive and are a keystone species, because they play a central role in supporting the health of the estuary ecosystem by eating invasive green crabs.

Now the slough is the place to go to learn about otters and their habitat — as long as their admirers don’t get too close, according to experts.

Bentall said visitors to Elkhorn Slough (50,000 per year) often disturb the otters by paddling too close in kayaks or approaching to get better photos. There is so much human-otter interaction there that Sea Otter Savvy designated the area as a hotspot for sea otter disturbance, and has focused educational efforts on humans who visit, asking them to keep a respectful distance from the playful otters.

The nonprofit monitored sea otters in Monterey Bay and found that a kayaker passing less than 20 meters away from a sea otter can disrupt normal otter behavior like resting, nursing, breeding, feeding or sheltering. The same research determined that 85% of total disturbances came from kayakers.

Sea otters are particularly vulnerable to these disturbances because they use huge amounts of energy to stay warm and survive, consuming 25% of their body weight in food every day. Human disturbances cause otters stress, meaning wasted energy and less time for hunting, decreasing their chances of survival.

To conserve energy, some otters adapt by losing what scientists consider to be a healthy, normal fear of humans. Rather than using up precious energy to run away from humans, naturally curious otters become comfortable swimming up to people in the water and climbing on their gear, risking being labeled as “problematic.”

Because otters share habitat with humans, they have to adapt, said Bentall: “Or they’d never be able to survive, because that process of fleeing humans is so energetically expensive to them.”

Getting comfortable around humans is called habituation, and it’s problematic for otters. Researchers say habituation because of tourism causes otters to exhibit less antipredator behavior — to be less likely to flee from predators. Habituated otters are more likely to approach threats, like humans and sharks.

Otter experts say this habituation is important for understanding Otter 841 and the surfing incidents since.

“Humans are the culprit, not the otters,” said Ron Eby, a volunteer for Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve who spends much of his time observing otters.

He said habituated otters become more comfortable with humans and are more likely to approach them, climbing on kayaks and surfboards without fear. High rates of habituation in otter habitats like Elkhorn Slough could explain why they’re causing friction at lineups like the Lane.

Despite being largely decimated in the 18th and 19th centuries, sea otter populations across California have been rebounding since the 1970s. Otter 841 herself was a part of this rebound – as the 841st otter released from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s otter rehabilitation program, she was exposed to humans since birth. The staff who care for otters there disguise themselves with masks and gowns to prevent pups from becoming accustomed to humans.

Coastal habitats and estuaries are instrumental to the success of these efforts to restore otter populations because they provide food sources and habitats for otters to thrive and raise their young. But these habitats often overlap with farms, cities, scenic coastal real estate and recreation areas, which makes otters and people close neighbors.

“They wouldn’t choose to live among all these people if they didn’t have to,” says Bentall. “There’s nowhere they can go to get away from humans.”

Bentall said it’s not just one incident that leads to otters swiping surfboards, it’s a culmination of many different influences and exposures.

“I think these kinds of interactions are probably going to increase, and they’re probably going to get more severe,” says Bentall. She said while surfers might be the ones dealing with audacious otters, they’re not at fault for trying to share the sea with their fellow mammals – rather, tourists and kayakers overeager to approach otters could be at the root of the problem.

Wildlife managers are trying different ways to keep the humans and otters apart. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service usually manages the capture and relocation of problematic otters, Eby said. Due to the current government shutdown, officials were unable to comment on the current response to the recent incident at Steamer Lane.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said it has no actions currently planned to intervene. In the meantime, the department is encouraging residents to explore U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s tips for recreating around sea otters.

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