A mom from west-central Florida couldn't believe what she saw a doctor doing after rushing her 4-year-old to the ER for a wild otter bite.
Lauren, who did not share her full name, posted a clip on TikTok (@loash9) zooming in on the doctor's computer screen where he was Googling otters.
Lauren explained that the family -- she, her husband Alex, and their two sons, Lee and Logan -- had been spending a quiet Sunday evening fishing at a local spot just down the road from their home.
"[The otter] just came up to us out of nowhere," she told Newsweek.
Her husband, who'd always liked otters -- his boss once kept a few that swam in her pool -- thought the animal was cute at first.
But the curiosity quickly turned into chaos. The family had been using steak as bait and the otter "would not leave us alone," Lauren said in a follow-up video on TikTok.
As the two boys leaned over the dock to watch, Lee threw his arm down into the water and the otter jumped up and bit his hand.
Lauren said the bite wasn't deep enough to require stitches, but she knew animal bites carried other risks. With the local health department and animal control closed for the night, the family headed straight to the ER.
When she saw the doctor looking up otters on the internet, Lauren saw the funny side. "My son did great through the whole thing," she added.
With no local zoo, animal control or wildlife experts available to consult that night, they had to call an on-call specialist for advice.
Lauren had already done her own research while waiting. "I knew, per my own Google search, it said that there is the possibility that [otters] could carry rabies," she said, referring to the viral disease that is transmitted via the saliva of infected animals.
Eventually, the decision was left to her: proceed with the rabies shots or risk waiting. "I said, well, 'Lee, you're gonna [sic] have to deal with the pain, and you're gonna [sic] have to get the shots," Lauren recalled.
The treatment, though necessary, was excruciating as the doctors had to inject the rabies vaccine directly into the wounds. "It was the most traumatizing... shot ever."
Over the next few weeks, Lee returned to the health department three separate times for follow-up doses.
As for Lee, now six, he's fully recovered -- and even braved the site of the incident again.
"The incident was reported to animal control and the health department," Lauren said. "We've gone fishing in the same spot since but have not seen the otter."