The Nevada swimming instructor who was viciously attacked by a “ruthless” otter in Lake Tahoe “has taken a bit of a turn” — undergoing surgery after an infection developed in her finger.
Less than a week after the attack, Lynnette Bellin was trying to type on her computer when she “realized that my left hand was just not in a great place,” she explained in an Instagram video taken from her hospital bed.
“I thought maybe I had some broken bones,” the 51-year-old said, pointing to two bite marks on either side of her hand.
“So I thought, ‘Did they crunch some stuff there?’”
The Reno resident visited an urgent care, and when an x-ray revealed nothing was broken, she was admitted to the hospital, and underwent surgery the next morning.
“The surgeon opened up my pinky finger and rinsed it out with saline and did find there was an infection in there,” she explained in the clip.
Bellin, who is working with an occupational therapist to regain mobility and is on IV antibiotics, can’t be released without getting cleared by an infectious disease doctor.
“Who knew those were dirty little buggers?” she added about otters, who very rarely bite as there have only been 59 documented cases since 1875.
Now referring to herself as “the Otter Lady,” Bellin was bitten by the brazen creature on Aug. 30 — and went viral for posting a series of videos immediately following the attack, showing her bloodied face, legs and hands as well as her blood-covered goggles.
She was swimming at 8 a.m. near Hidden Beach on the shore of Lake Tahoe, when what she assumed was a human suddenly grabbed her leg and pulled her beneath the surface.
“I thought it was a person until I saw the otter, and then it kept coming at me with teeth and claws. I tried to push it away but this thing was relentless,” Bellin explained on Instagram.
The attack left her needing 38 stitches and rabies treatment.
“I made my way to a rock and it climbed up on the rock and kept attacking me. I swear it was a five-minute attack! I was yelling and pushing and it just kept coming for me.”
As she tried to defend herself, the otter got more aggressive, and she yelled for help, but to no avail. She even tried to pick up the animal and throw it, she told the Reno Gazette Journal.
“I finally climbed up on a bigger rock and got away from it,” she explained in a Instagram post.
But she still couldn’t get back into the water.
“It kept circling the area, so I knew I couldn’t get back in the water,” she continued.
She then was able to climb over rocks and the fence to a bike trail “freaking out everyone I passed” because she was “dripping blood everywhere.”
After someone on the bike path called for help, police, firefighters and an ambulance responded to the scene. Bellin later drove herself to the emergency room.
“It was very painful,” Bellin, who has been swimming in Lake Tahoe for 25 years, told CBS News. “Yeah, it was just ruthless. It just kept coming after me.”
Ironically, Bellin owns ISR Reno Tahoe, which provides water safety lessons to children.
“I even have a little toy otter I use in swim lessons with kids,” she told the Journal. “I might not use that anymore.”
Bellin credits that swimming training with saving her life.
“The water can be unpredictable and unforgiving,” she said on Instagram two days after the attack.
“Being a competent swimmer is what saved me in this situation, as I didn’t have to think about my breath control or how to move in the water — it is second nature to me.”
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