Killer Otter Shocks Bystanders After Attacking and Drowning Seagull

When someone mentions an otter, it probably conjures up images of them holding hands as they drift off to sleep, or their fluffy belly.

But prepare for that to change, after someone captured an otter attacking a seagull, killing it by dragging it underwater to drown.

The shocking footage was shared to TikTok account @zachthefisherman, where Zach usually shares clips of his catches in Canadian waters.

It appears a group of friends were filming seals in the water, as they admired the creatures from what looks like a wooden dock, in Victoria.

Some seagulls swimming on the surface nearby drift into shot, when from nowhere an otter shoots out of the water and clamps the gull in its jaws. It drags the still flapping bird beneath the waves, and swims off with it in its mouth.

The video, which can be seen here, amassed more than 600,000 views since being uploaded last week.

Zach captioned the clip: "When otters attack," as the group can be heard shouting "oh no," while one person laughs in the background.

Zach seemingly explained his reaction in the comments, saying: "I really hate birds."

Defending his reaction, he added: "Everyone's different and that's fine, it's the food chain. Everything's gotta eat! For me it was a unique experience to see."

Contrary to popular belief otters aren't pescatarians, and are in fact carnivores, who also eat other small mammals, according to Live Science.

Website Mammal.org went into further detail, revealing birds aren't an uncommon part of their diet, so it wasn't unusual to see the otter pounce.

It explained: "Fish, especially eels and salmonids are eaten by the otter, and crayfish at certain times of the year. Coastal otters in Shetland eat bottom-living species such as eelpout, rockling and butterfish. Otters occasionally take water birds such as coots, moorhens and ducks. In the spring, frogs are an important food item."

Despite seagulls being part of otters' usual meals, the sight was met with horror in the comments.

James Primrose joked: "Some people really haven't watched Zootopia out here... otters are carnivores."

"This TikTok was directed by M. Night [Shyamalan]," HP quipped.

Loveable bees reckoned: "Otters are hardcore as hell, but they look so cute."

Brandon Ackert commented: "There's a lot going on in this video."

Heather revealed: "My friend and I saw otters try to grab a duck in a lake! It was so surreal."

"River otters are demons but kinda cute," Raquel commented.

Sky joked: "The fishes were like, we've suffered too long."

Newsweek reached out to Zach for comment.