Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, July 21.
She’s wanted by the feds, but this adorable little outlaw is not going quietly.
For a little over a week, federal and state wildlife officials, along with biologists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, have been trying — but so far failing — to capture a 5-year-old female southern sea otter, dubbed 841, in the waters off Santa Cruz. The U.S. Coast Guard even joined in the dragnet this week with boats and a helicopter.
That’s a lot of heat for one otter, who’s being sought for her recent headline-making habit of swimming up to surfers and swiping their boards, then lying on and sometimes chomping into them.
841 made her first big splash last month, when photos and video of her catching waves also caught media attention.
But where most onlookers saw a playfully curious critter, wildlife…
