A BALLINA resident had the experience of a lifetime last week when he was bitten by an otter. Most people have never seen an otter but Chris Connolly, Riverside Drive, Ballina, got a bite from one and had to have a tetanus shot for his trouble.
The frisky little animal apparently got lost and made his way into the housing area one day last week to the delight of scores of children.
Ollie the otter gambolled around the estate and even went into a house being chased by children and, in turn, running after them.
Chris Connolly was coming back from town when the otter ran out in front of him. After a time he realised it was not a cat and he got his camera.
The otter continued into the estate, running into back gardens, and coming out again and on to the green open space area. "It was running up and down the road with kids after it and it went into a house," he said. "We tried to get it into a box so that we could take it down to the river Moy. It bit me when I was trying to do this and I later had to get a tetanus injection," he said. Even after being bitten Chris Connolly tried to coax the animal down towards the river but it went into a wooded area and that was the last he saw of it.
Ollie the Ballina otter was on a very strange day trip to the housing area because otters are very seldom seen in daylight.
Otters are nocturnal mammals. They can be seen on the banks of the Moy in Ballina. They have a very sleek body with thick brown fur and a long furry tail. They have short webbed feet and they live mostly on fish.
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