Raining Otters!

Splish, Splash & Splosh prior to moving to their new half-way home - It is no longer possible to handle the otters and human contact is kept to an absolute minimum.

Secret World Wildlife Rescue has its first orphans of the year. Two tiny otter cubs were discovered by Mr Thorne who is a farmer on Gold Corner, East Huntspill. He had heard crying coming from under his shed in the garden near the River Huntspill at 3 a.m. Mr Thorne contacted English Nature who told him to take them along to Secret World Wildlife Rescue (SWWR).The cubs arrived at SWWR on the 3rd January and were extremely cold and hungry and Ellie West, the animal care manager, quickly placed them into an incubator to recover. Mr Thorne was to return nearly two hours later with a third cub found near the shed. It is thought that the cub had strayed from the safety of the shed to look for his mother.

Splish the otter cub.

The care of otter cubs is a long rehabilitation programme, needing to be cared for until they are 15 – 18 months old. “We have reared otters in the past”, said Ellie West, “ but have always had singles and have had to pass them on to another centre to have company of other otter cubs, only having them back to be released back to the wild. Because this is a family, we want very much to see them through to their release in 2007 but we will need to upgrade our facilities and find the finances to feed them once they start eating fish. These three will probably cost us £100 each week just to pay for their fish alone!”

Splosh the otter cub

Notes:

26th May 2006 (27 weeks)
They’re in !! The otter enclosure is completed and the otters moved in to the pen in April. The pond is 8 metres wide and is approximately 2 metres deep at its deepest. When the otters moved in, they did not come out for the first day or night but over the weeks have become acclimatised to the pen. Very limited access with only two carers means that they are shy of humans and the BBC who are filming for a programme in 2008 from a specially built hide are finding it extremely hard to catch them on film. Luckily we are able to monitor them on camera and most of the activity is early evening or during the night.

Games in the evening comprise of a romp and chase around the grounds and launching themselves on top of each other in the pond. We have an underwater camera which allows fantastic images to be seen for the first few hours after the pond has been cleaned and we are hoping to get this viewable on the website.

We apologise for those of you patiently waiting to see the otters on the web cam but we are waiting to get the equipment to enable to have a choice of pictures so keep waiting and we will have some fantastic images for you to see. As you can see from the photos – Splish, Splash and Splosh are very fit and healthy and loving their new home which will be theirs for the next year prior to release.

31st March (19 weeks)
Holes are being dug, fences are going up & tea is being drunk...yes, construction of the Otter Enclosure is in full swing. Designed specifically for Otter Rehabilitation, Splish, Splash & Splosh will hopefully be in their new home soon after Easter and will have all they need to develop the skills essential to survive in the wild. With cameras set up for remote viewing, human contact can be kept to an absolute minimum but still allow us to monitor and learn from these magnificent creatures


22nd March (17 weeks)
Splish, Splash and Splosh are now 17 weeks old and eating for England!! They are active around 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. which is the time that they are used to having their food put in for them and once they have gone into their box with fresh hay, they can be shut in and the pen can be cleaned and their water tank emptied and filled with fresh water. They are active again in the evening. Their second feed of the day is around 4.30 but they remain active off and on through the evening and night.

Work has commenced on their new enclosure. The pen will be 20 metres by 20 metres with a 5m x 5m pool. This is being built away from main buildings on a quiet area of the farm. We will be able to monitor their progress by camera and hope that we will be able to share this with you.

A fourth otter has arrived!
A young female otter cub was found by a falconer near Barnstable in Devon. The cub was crying and almost unconscious and it was the noise of her crying that alerted the man when he was out walking his dog. She was very cold and hungry and was taken in and kept warm overnight before being moved here to Secret World.


Rain the otter cub

We estimate that she was about 10 weeks old when she arrived here on March 8th. The cub has been called Rain as it was a very cold rainy day when she was found. Rain lapped esbilac milk but was soon eating mince, liver and heart with scrambled egg. She is very wild and as she is weaned there is no need to handle her. Because she is quite a lot younger than the others we are not sure if we will be able to mix her with them as they may be a bit too boisterous for her in the water and she may not get her fair share of the food.

At the moment, she is in the kitchen cubby hole and has settled. Now weighing 1429gms, little Rain is doing well.  If there is a single otter of the same age somewhere else, we may consider letting her go with it for company. We shall have to wait and see.

1st March (14 weeks)
The otter cubs have grown a lot! They are now eating raw mince as well as fish. This enables us to give them extra vitamins in their food. They are mainly active after being cleaned and fed in the mornings ( around 9 - 10 a.m. ) and again in the evening from 17 hrs onwards. However you will glimpse them at other times during the day. Splish, Splash and Splosh are all now very nervous and wild. In fact at last weeks weigh-in the carer was unable to catch one in order to weigh it! They are all growing and are more difficult to identify although each one has been micro-chipped so we will still be able to tell which is which.

Splash and Splosh still spend a lot of time playing together and Splish seems to be more solitary. They all enjoy swimming in the tank and a lot of play and tumbling takes place when the otter cubs are all in together. When they climb out of their tank they appear almost irredescent with the water and then within two shakes - they are dry! Work is soon to commence on their outside enclosure.

20th February (13 weeks)
Now fully weaned, Splish, Splash and Splosh have moved to a temporary home where human contact has been reduced to a minimum. Already, their have turned mainly nocturnal, run away when new carers go in to clean and feed but can be monitored on our CCTV to ensure that they are happy and healthy.

They now have natural materials such as tree roots, tunnels and reeds to play with and are very vocal in their boisterous games. Building work is soon to commence on their new outside enclosure. More news on March 1st, when they will be viewable again on the webcam.

10th February (11 weeks)
You will not be able to see the otters quite so readily as they have moved out into the kitchen. They are now only using the cubby hole as a feeding station. We have moved the web-cam so that you will see them when they are playing by the armchairs. All three otters are now feeding just on fish and are eating over 60 small fresh trout every day! Their activity times vary as they are awake a lot more now. Splish is still the smallest and Splosh is the one who likes to stay in the bath the longest.

We are hoping that by next week the otters will be moving into a half-way home that will give them more freedom and will stop all contact with their original carers. This is important for them to slowly revert to the wild. Like you, we shall be hoping to still be able to see what Splish, Splash and Splosh are getting up to by watching cameras that should be up and running by the following week.

3rd February (10 weeks)
The three otters are now weighing approximately 1600 grammes having nearly tripled their weight since their arrival on January 3rd. Splish, Splash and Splosh are playing a lot now and look forward to their mid day dip in the bath! The water is usually about 26 cms deep ( 10 ins) and great fun is had by all with lots of fighting, snorting, tumbling and diving.

Their routine is now a bottle feed plus fish around 7.30am, lunch around 12.30 is usually just fish served up after bath time. Both the 17.30 and 23.30 feeds consists of a bottle of milk and fish to follow.

The otters now play with balls and ' tug of war' with toys. They will soon need to go to an outside pen when the break will be made with their carers and human contact reduced to a minimum to allow them to revert to being wild.

24th January (9 weeks):
Splish, Splash and Splosh are now eating small fingerling trout after their mid day milk feeds. Feeds are now approximately 7.30 a.m., 12.30 p.m. ( plus fish), 5.30 p.m. ( plus fish) and finally 11.30 p.m.. The dog’s water bowl in the kitchen is causing a lot of interest as they snorkel – and Splish actually managed to fit completely in the bowl – much to her delight with squeaks and snorts.

They have not learnt how to close their nostrils yet and their first visit to the bath under close supervision and in very shallow water was spent paddling around and a lot of spluttering. When they come out of the bath, all three squirm around and dry themselves on towels, rugs or their carers if they are available! Each cub has gained about 300 grammes in weight in the last week.

13th January 2006 (7 weeks):
The cubs feeds have now been reduced to four times a day. You can see them being fed live on the webcam, though the times are approximate (we still have many other wildlife casualties that need attention). You can see the feeds on our webcam at approximately 7.30am, 12.30pm, 5,30pm and 11.30pm. They are more active around feeding times and their play time is becoming more boisterous and vocal. Daily records are being kept of their weights as well as information being recorded or their lengths and teeth eruptions.

11th January 2006 (7 weeks):
Splish is the smaller female who is quite quiet and dainty. When she first arrived her weight was 676 grams and she is now, a week later 738 grams. Splash in the larger female who is very vocal and boisterous. She cried a lot when she first arrived but has now settled and the most noise we hear is a lovely trilling sound of contentment – although she will whistle if left to last to be fed, very quick to voice her disgust! Slash was 801 grams on arrival and has gained 219 grams in a week. Splosh is the male cub who is already drinking more than the others. He is slightly more forward than the other two and was the first to really play. His arrival weight was 760 grams and he is now 1050 grams so Splosh has exceeded his big sister! They are being fed on esbilac milk and have now moved from the incubator to the cubbyhole in Pauline’s kitchen. Their first feed is at 6.30 a.m. The feeds are then approximately between 10 and 11 a.m., 2.30 – 3.30 p.m., 7 – 8 p.m. and finally 11p.m. to midnight. These are the times that you are likely to see the most movement. Splish, Splash and Splosh are beginning to play and would normally stay in the safety of their holt. In a couple of weeks they will be about in the kitchen and soon will be taking swimming lessons in the bath!

Splash the otter cub

Please support our work. Donate online now

please click here to donate

New Road, East Huntspill, Highbridge, Somerset TA9 3PZ, UK
Tel. : (44) (01278) 783250, Fax : (44) (01278) 793109
...........................................................................................................
Website by Dae Sasitorn, lastrefuge.co.uk
and Angie Barber, The Secret World Wildlife Rescue