A Nevada-based woman was left bloodied after being mauled by an otter while swimming in Lake Tahoe – and recounted how the weasel-like creature was “ruthless” in its vicious attack.
Reno swimming instructor Lynnette Bellin, 51, needed 38 stitches after being savagely attacked during her open water swim on Sunday morning.
Bellin has now harrowingly recalled how she had to fight off the animal, which was relentless in its attack near Hidden Beach.
“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, who has swum in Lake Tahoe for 25 years, 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, originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, yelled for help while being savaged – but managed to get to safety by clambering onto some “slippery” boulders, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.
“I even watched and it was just circling the rocks,” she said, describing the otter as “very menacing.”
Bellin, who was visibly shocked by what unfolded in the water, showed off the extent of her injuries.
Her nose and the left side of her face were covered in blood, as was her left hand.
Her foot required 22 stitches.
Bellin described swimming in the freshwater lake as her “peace” and “sanctuary” but said through tears that she’s now scared to do it again, at least in the short term.
“I feel like that was robbed from me after the otter attack,” she wrote online.
She expressed hope she might be able to return to the lake in the future.
“Perhaps I will just pick different beaches to swim at,” she said, trying to make the best of the horrifying situation.
