Mysterious creature turns up below high water mark near Jericho Beach

Strange things can turn up at low tide.

Sebastien Mouttet was out walking his dog Thursday afternoon on the English Bay shoreline near the foot of Dunbar Street in Vancouver when his dog found something interesting.

It was this:

“She ran straight for this thing,” Mouttet said. “I guess she must have smelled it.”

Mouttet smelled it soon enough, too, and it wasn’t pleasant.

He was stumped as to what it might be, though. He posted the photos to Reddit and asked if anyone had any ideas. The images immediately reminded us of other mysterious creatures that have circulated online in recent years, such as the so-called Montauk Monster (which may or may not have been a raccoon), and more recently the skinless washup in Santa Barbara.

We ran Mouttet’s photos by Christopher Stinson, curatorial assistant of mammals, reptiles and amphibians at UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Stinson confirmed that the creature is in fact a northern river otter. They live along the shore all over the city, including Stanley Park, where they hunt for fish.

“They’re called river otters because that’s usually where you find them in the rest of North America, but on the coast they’re usually in the shallows,” Stinson said. You could even find one in the middle of the Strait of Georgia. They are capable of completing the crossing.

Stinson said he has found two otters washed up on beaches in the Lower Mainland, as well as a live pup at Wreck Beach last year.

This particular otter had undergone extensive decomposition. It had no fur and — although it’s hard to tell from the photos — possibly no skin.

The otter may even have been trapped and skinned at some point, then thrown into a river or the ocean, Stinson said.

Stinson will be giving a talk about otters on behalf of the Stanley Park Ecological Society on March 12 at the West End Community Centre.

source : http://blogs.theprovince.com/