A Nevada woman was left bloodied after being mauled by an otter while swimming in Lake Tahoe – and she has since recounted how the weasel-like creature was “ruthless” in its vicious attack.
Reno-based swimming instructor Lynnette Bellin needed 38 stitches after being savagely attacked during her open water swim on Sunday morning.
Mother of two Bellin has now chillingly recalled how she had to fight off the relentless creature.
“Something grabbed my leg and pulled me under,” Bellin, the owner of survival swim school, ISR Reno Tahoe, told CBS News.
“And it was so powerful I thought it was a human.”
Bellin said the otter lunged at her and began “biting and scratching.”
“It was just ruthless,” she said.
“It was teeth and claws and it was a very long attack,” she told the NBC affiliate KRNV.
“It just kept coming after me. I kept pushing it away and it kept coming back.”
A bloodied Bellin yelled for help while she was being savaged – but she managed to get to safety by clambering onto some “slippery” boulders, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.
“I even watched and it [the otter] was just circling the rocks,” she said.
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