An otter who was separated from his mother during last week’s Storm Desmond was found crying on a doorstep of a UK home. The 10-week-old cub was found at the back door of a house in the town of Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.
He is currently being cared for by the Scottish SPCA. The staff at the centre have named him Buddy. They say he is still weak and underweight, but is recovering well. The Scottish SPCA is experiencing a surge in the amount of otters in their care, currently taking care of 15.
Buddy is being bottle-fed milk and hand-fed a diet of fish. He will soon be introduced to three other otter cubs, Ebb, Tide and Wave who were also found recently without their mothers. All four are being cared for at the charity’s national wildlife rescue centre in Fishcross, Clackmannanshire.
“They will stay with us for around a year until they are old enough to fend for themselves back in the wild,” said centre manager Colin Seddon.
“This is a very hazardous time for young otters as they can easily be washed out of their holts by high rivers and at that age they are not accomplished swimmers. If separated from their mothers, they may well perish.We would appeal to the public to be watchful, especially in areas affected by the recent floods.” he added.