{"id":97804,"date":"2025-10-02T09:36:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=97804"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:36:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T13:36:39","slug":"river-otter-attack-on-port-alberni-tween-unusual-and-rare-says-cos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/river-otter-attack-on-port-alberni-tween-unusual-and-rare-says-cos\/","title":{"rendered":"River otter attack on Port Alberni tween \u2018unusual and rare\u2019, says COS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Port Alberni, BC – Tseshaht First Nation tween Taiaha Watts has one epic summer story to share on the playground. On Aug. 25 the 10-year-old boy from Port Alberni was attacked by a river otter while floating at a family swimming hole along the Somass River. Taiaha\u2019s dad Len Watts was playing cards on the beach when the shocking incident took place. \u201cThis otter comes five feet in front of my son – usually they will look at you and go away – but it looked at him and went right for him, tried jumping on his face and chest,\u201d Watts said. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky it was low tide. When he stood up, the water was only to his hips. (Taiaha) was punching… <\/p>\n

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By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Port Alberni, BC – Tseshaht First Nation tween Taiaha Watts has one epic summer story to share on the playground. On Aug. 25 the 10-year-old boy from Port Alberni was attacked by a river otter while floating at a family swimming hole along the Somass River. Taiaha\u2019s dad Len Watts was playing cards on the beach when the shocking incident took place. \u201cThis otter comes five feet in front of my son – usually they will look at you and go away – but it looked at him and went right for him, tried jumping on his face and chest,\u201d Watts said. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky it was low tide. When he stood up, the water was only to his hips. (Taiaha) was punching... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nRiver otter attack on Port Alberni tween \u2018unusual and rare\u2019, says COS - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/river-otter-attack-on-port-alberni-tween-unusual-and-rare-says-cos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"River otter attack on Port Alberni tween \u2018unusual and rare\u2019, says COS - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Port Alberni, BC – Tseshaht First Nation tween Taiaha Watts has one epic summer story to share on the playground. 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