What we can learn from California's surfing sea otter

The infamous surfboard-stealing sea otter of Monterey Bay is still on the run – but her strange behaviour is drawing attention to the many challenges this species faces.

At first it looks like she is up to her usual tricks again. A southern sea otter, with her thick, dark fur glistening with water – as though she has been dipped in tar – is floating along in the foamy waves off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. On a surfboard.

Like all beginner surfers, it took her a few attempts to hop aboard her craft. But now she's up, with her signature surfing gait, flopped across the board's width as you might ride a lilo. This is the notorious surfing pirate of Monterey Bay – sea otter 841, sometimes known as Laverna. For the past two years, but particularly the last six weeks, this swashbuckling buccaneer has achieved international infamy for her regular raids on humans, in which she steals their boards and cruises along on them.

Now law enforcement – well, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, among others – are determined to bring 841 in. There's just one problem: despite numerous attempts and the involvement of five federal agencies, the unstoppable wheels of justice are apparently no match for this extraordinary mammal. The surfboard she steals in the latest video of her antics is actually a decoy – part of an elaborate plot to trick the sea otter into entering a net. With officials waiting nearby on a small fishing boat, and others lurking in the water, she plays along for a while – then gives them the slip. At the time of writing, California's most wanted ocean bandit is still at large.