Montana Otter Attack Victim Shares Photos of Injuries

Warning: This article contains graphic photos of open wounds.

Three women were involved in a river otter attack in Montana last week. Jen Royce, who suffered severe injuries in the attack, took to Facebook to share the photos and recount her story of the event. The photos were shared by NBC Montana in this video:

Here is Royce’s story, as provided through a GoFundMe set up by a friend to help cover another victim’s medical expenses:

“We were in the middle of the river at a wide stretch, not near the shore, and we didn’t even know the otter/otters were there until we were attacked.

Around 8:15pm the otters attacked us. It lasted maybe 5 minutes? I really cannot remember. We were in the middle of the river in a deep and wide stretch that went far back from the road and behind the mountains. I saw one otter right behind my friend before it attacked. I didn’t even have a chance to get the words “there is an otter behind you” out of me before it attacked her.

This thing was vicious and relentless. It bit my face in several places, both of my ears, my arms, my hands, my legs, my thighs, and my ankle. My friends were bit on their hands and on their bottoms, and legs. One friend’s thumb was SHREDDED and she has bite marks all over her body as well.

Being in the middle of the river meant I couldn’t reach the bottom with my feet, so I was trying to tread water while fending for my body. The water was definitely where they excelled in their attack and we were helpless. I tried to kick it away but I would just get attacked somewhere else. I tried to hold it back at one point by grabbing its arm to hold it away while trying to swim closer to shore. Once I had my feet under me I was able to fight back better and was eventually able to pull myself out of the river. It swam away after that.

By the time I made it out my friends and I were separated. I was on the south side of the river and had crawled up the hill, one friend was out on the north side by the railroad tracks, and my other dear friend was stuck on a rock still in the river, not able to get out since we didn’t know where the otter/otters went.

We had one phone between the three of us that miraculously made it to shore. In SOS mode my friend was able to contact 911. Because of our location, It proved difficult for them to ping her phone for search and rescue. It felt like it was taking forever for any help to arrive (Turns out it was 53 minutes). I was covered in blood and it just kept pouring out from my face and nose. It was cold. We were wet. It was dark. We had no real “good” visual on eachother due to distance. All we could do was scream and call out to one another. To anyone. But we were just so damn far away. From anything.

Eventually we saw red and blue lights driving down the canyon. There was no way they could see us from our location. My friend who was on the phone had to make the decision to leave us and run more than two miles to the road to try and get them. I know that was not an easy decision for her to make.”