Rabid otter attacks man

[Intrepidation]

UNDATED -- A 96-year-old Florida man is recovering after an otter went on the attack.

Morrie Denton said he was just out for a stroll when the animal struck.

"I just looked down on the ground and I saw this little animal walking across and he walked real slow like," Denton said.

Denton said without warning, near a wetland area, an otter clamped down on his ankle.

Two good Samaritans came to the elderly man's aid, but the otter then turned its focus on them.

"After he grabbed me by the foot and I fell, he was all over me, on this hand and then on this one,” Denton said.

A good Samaritan stopped to help Denton, but struggled to pull the otter off.

Passerby Chris Janssen arrived next, but the otter turned and bit him in the ankle.

Janssen managed to kick the otter into the road. Stunned, it tried to crawl away, prompting a deputy to shoot it three times."

"It's a crazy story isn't it? It's a crazy story. Whose ever heard of an attack otter. When you see an otter you go, ohhh.

Morrie Denton says this marked his first and hopefully last encounter with an otter.

"I thought well heck it's little. It doesn't feel like a very big animal, but oh, man is he a fighter," Denton said.

Authorities eventually killed the otter after discovering it was rabid.

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http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/bizarre/BO137176/