'Time had stopped': British man recounts attack by otters in Singapore gardens

Record ID: 1650663

  • Title: 'Time had stopped': British man recounts attack by otters in Singapore gardens
  • Date: 11th December 2021
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (FILE) (REUTERS) OTTER SNIFFING SLEEPING MAN'S FOOT AND SCAMPERING AWAY PACK OF OTTERS PASSING ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2021 13:13
  • Keywords: Graham George Spencer Singapore animals attack otters
  • Location: SINGAPORE
  • City: SINGAPORE
  • Country: Singapore
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Human-Led Quirky,Human-Led Stories
  • Reuters ID: LVA005F7LD9VR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A British man taking an early morning walk in Singapore Botanic Gardens said he was attacked by a pack of wild otters, leaving him with 26 wounds on his buttocks, legs and fingers.
    Graham George Spencer, in his 60s, was on his usual 6 a.m. walk in the gardens on Nov. 30, when a "convoy" of about 20 otters ambushed him, causing him to fall, and trampled and bit him.
    Spencer described the animals as "biting me like a staple gun" and "screaming" during the attack.
    "I just kept thinking, surely, I'm not going to die this way. This is how I'm going to end? What will my kids think?.. It literally probably only lasted ten seconds, but it was as if time stopped," he told Reuters on Saturday (December 11), revisiting the site of the attack at the Botanical Gardens.
    Spencer escaped when his friend ran over to scream at the otters and pulled him away.
    Animal welfare groups said it is rare for otters to attack humans unless they feel threatened. Spencer said he thought the otters mistook him for a runner who had run past him, stepping on one of the animals in the dim early morning light.
    Spencer, a permanent resident of Singapore, said he hoped the authorities would put in place measures such as more solar-powered lights along the pathways.
    He added that his doctor told him that most of the wounds, some of which are still infected, will remain permanent scars.
    "But it'll never be quite the same. You know, because once you've been through something like that, I mean, you're constantly looking at the undergrowth, as I am now, to see any movement. It's just one of those things," he said.
    Singapore Botanic Gardens did not immediately respond to request for comment on Saturday.
    (Production: Joseph Campbell, Ahmed Assar)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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