Cindy the Surfing Sea Otter

PHOTO: KSBW NEWS

Santa Cruz made the national... er' international, news recently with the story about its longboard riding sea otter. This is not a gimmick, a magic trick or a conspiracy theory about the takeover of our planet by furry sea otters with big teeth.

The little, now-fast growing town on Monterey Bay has been known for many things over the years and the surfing sea otter fits right into the story line.

Saturday I watched as Fish and Wildlife, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Seymour Marine Lab authorities attempted to lasso the playful otter in an effort to "rehome" the little beast. In the parlance of science, the experts have named the female otter the undistinguished appellation, 841.

Come on! 841 is an area code not a cuddly creature. Let's step away from bureaucracy and give the girl a name, like Cindy, Hildy or Ama. This would help humanize the otter, who appears to be a bit trickier than humans. This is a human interest story.

They were trying to catch the otter with a hand-held fishing net. Cindy the Sea Otter (I've taken the liberty to name her for this tale) saw this as a game, wriggling out of the net whenever it closed in, which was not often. She insisted on playing hide and seek, making the ocean experts look like kooks.

This game drew cheers, claps and laughs from the gathering audience on the cliffs above. 

The odds heavily favored the authorities, who came prepared with one person on a paddle board, another leashed to a surfboard, one small motor boat well-equipped with poles, lines and GPS, and a huge underwater net strung out to a flotation device.

Cindy's head popped out of the water as she grabbed -- otters have very dexterous arms and claws -- and appeared to nibble on the nose of the board. When the net came down, she was gone in a splash of sea water, only to pop up 20 yards away, seemingly with a big smile.

At times she climbed onto the surfboard, lying on her belly, just long enough to disappear into the deep when the net came near.

"They can't shoot her with a sedative because they're afraid she might drown," said one person who carried a camera with a telephoto lens and seemed to know what was going on. Presumably, he had spent the past few days on the cliffs, snapping photos and filling onlookers with information, including a photo that went viral and appeared in the New York Times, among other media, possibly Le Monde in Paris and the Albanian Daily News.

As the story goes, Cindy's mother gave birth to Cindy in the confines of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She was raised in captivity, but kept blindfolded when humans were around, so she wouldn't get too chummy with people. Apparently that didn't work. She obviously has other senses -- like smell, hearing, radar?

To date, Cindy the Sea Otter has not bit a person, although I had a nip of a scare this morning.

While paddling in on my surfboard I spied a head with long whiskers and pointed snout pop out of the water about 10 yards to my left. It was probably a sea lion but I did not want to take any chances, having visions of  Cindy appearing on the nose of my surfboard three-feet from my nose with her big teeth and sharp claws.

From what I've seen, she seems playful with a strong connection to us human beings. But I didn't want to be the first person to feel her bite. On the other hand, I could have tried talking to her in a soothing voice.

What did I do? I paddled like hell.