Over 4 days, otters gobble up nearly 100 fish at Church of St Teresa

Staff at the Church of Saint Teresa were shocked on Monday morning (May 24) when they discovered numerous dead fish scattered around the compound.

They soon discovered that this was the work of a family of otters. 

In a video clip Shin Min Daily News posted on Facebook, the remains of dozens of dead koi — some with their heads or tails bitten off — were seen lying on the ground near one of the compound's two ponds.

Several otters swam in the pond while a few ran away from the person filming them.

The otters eventually ran towards the church's gate to make their escape. 

A reader told the Chinese daily that some of the koi had been carefully raised by church staff and gardeners over 15 years. 

He added that the otters sneaked into the church over four consecutive days, and ate the fish from the smaller pond. When there were no more koi there, the otters moved on to the bigger pond. 

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The retiree, 71, estimated that close to 100 fish were killed or eaten by the otters so far.

"As the ponds are outdoors, the otters could've sneaked in at night," he said, adding that the church staff's attempted to prevent the incident from happening again. 

While several koi survived the attacks, the elderly man said he is worried that they will be eaten next. 

alexanderkt@asiaone.com