Sea otters are adorable surfboard thieves swarming Santa Cruz’s surf scene with their fuzzy, sticky little fingers. And it’s not the first time, either.
In 2023, a sea otter codenamed Otter 841 went ballistic as it went on a surfboard-stealing, surfer-biting spree. She instantly became a local legend, with her picture slapped onto novelty items and even finding its way onto dispensary billboards. Ice cream shops created new flavors in her honor.
Now, in 2025, the otters are back at it, though no one’s really sure if it’s Otter 841 or some other otter with a bone to pick with surfers. This past week, another otter stole a surfboard from the same beach as before.
Experts interviewed by the New York Times say that otters learn from each other, so it’s possible that one NorCal sea otter learned it from watching you, Dad. One of them might have seen another one steal a surfboard and get away with it, so the others were like, cool. I’ll do that too.
Sea otter populations are growing, and sometimes they bump heads with surfers trying to catch a tasty wave. According to Gena Bentall of Sea Otter Savvy, interviewed by the Times, otters in populated areas are harassed by humans up to six times a day, leading them to become less afraid of us and more curious in turn.
That curiosity manifests in the occasional surfboard theft. They are rare. There is no epidemic of surfboards getting yoinked left and right. But the fact that it happens at all does raise some concerns, namely that marine life has nowhere else to go. We’re encroaching on their land. Or sea, in this case. We built our lives along their natural habitat, so we can’t really be surprised when they act out.
The post Sea Otters Are Stealing Surfboards at an Alarming Rate appeared first on VICE.
