He found himself running away from a cage with otters scampering after him, trying to attack and maul him.

Jordan Grommet, senior, was vol- unteering at the St. Louis World Aquarium during his freshman year when he obtained the job of cleaning out the otter’s cage.

“[The aquarium] has a wet cage and dry cage for the otters that are connected with a little door, and I had to put them into their wet cage and close the door with a cardboard wall,” Grommet, senior, said.

Grommet had to first clean the dry cage while the otters were blocked off in the wet cage. In addition, he was also alone in the cage while his manager was doing another job.

According to Otter Joy, an otter specialization website, Otters can be very dangerous. Also, they are able to run faster than humans and jump up to 2 feet. When attacking in packs, otters can scare off large predators such as tigers. The ‘Daily News,’ a newspaper in New York, reported two teenagers who were clawed and bitten by river otters on the Washington state river.

Jordan, unaware of these otter traits, did not realize the danger he did not close the cage correctly and the otters decided to escape.

“I was supposed to put a rock against [the cardboard wall] so that they didn’t move it while I was cleaning the dry cage,” Grommet said.

Although Grommet tried to follow procedure and instruction correctly, the otters
figured out a way around the wall.

“I don’t think I put the rock against the wall the right way because my manager saw the otter sliding the door open and said ‘No, Jordan run away,’ and I ran out of the cage right as they chased after me,” Grommet said. “My co-worker shut the
door and locked it.”

Grommet escaped out of the cage before the otters could attack him. His near-death experience occurred between the first and second years of his volunteer work and he still continued to volunteer at the aquarium after the incident.

“I don’t think otters are generally evil, but apparently the ones in this aquarium were and they just hated everyone,” Grommet said.

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