I recently went to Kumarakom (Kerala) in India with my family and while we were out on the backwaters on a boat, we saw a couple of river otters. They are really cute and I want one as much as I want a ferret. They do rather look like ferrets.
However, I still think everyone would have been far more excited if they saw a shark though.
ps - Liz Climo also has a cute comic with a shark and an otter. This could be a tribute!