www.otter.org IOSF e-upate no. 28 April 2013
e-Update 28, April 2013
20 years of the Otter Hospital Actually this isn’t strictly true as we had our first otter casualty in 1988 before IOSF was “born”. He was a road casualty from outside the Hebridean Hotel in Broadford and sadly he didn’t survive.
When we first started working with otters our vet was Donald John MacLennan, a wonderful man from the Isle of Harris, who had also been the vet for Gavin Maxwell’s otters.
Over the years we have treated 167 otters. Most of these are cubs who have somehow become separated from their mothers but there have been a fair number of juveniles and adults. Obviously we can’t tell you about all of them but there are a few which stand out.
Our first cub was called Su and came from the east coast of Scotland, aged about two months. She was reared with another cub called Candy and released in autumn 1994.
Su
Tucker
Tucker came from the Isle of Skye and was a real character. Unfortunately his mother was hit by a car in the north of Skye and the driver put her in the back of his car to bring her to us. However, on the way down she came round and he quickly let her out of the car. He had no idea that she had cubs until a few days later when he spotted these two little bundles of fluff walking down the road. Mum was now 35 miles away so the only thing to do was for us to go and collect them. Sadly the smaller of the two, Tingha, died but Tucker thrived and was later released back to the north of the island.
Kyle was such a sad case but showed the great survival instinct of otters. He was a young adult and was spotted in the harbour of Kyle of Lochalsh with something around his neck. It was cutting in badly and so he had to be caught to remove it. It
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www.otter.org IOSF e-upate no. 28 April 2013 wasn’t easy to catch him but eventually he was locked into the hold of a fishing boat and we managed to get him in a box. When we took him to the vet we saw the true extent of his injuries, which had been caused by a cable tie. His head was terribly swollen and you could hear Kyle’s release the rasping of his breath even after the cable tie was removed. But miraculously he recovered and a couple of weeks later we were able to release him back to his old haunts in Kyle Harbour.
But the story doesn’t end there as about three weeks later we had a call from Balmacara about an otter which appeared to have a collar around its neck. This turned out to be Kyle and the “collar” was where his fur hadn’t yet grown back. He was now about five miles up the coast and doing well.
There are of course, hundreds more stories like this – some are happy and some are sad and some are inspirational like Kyle. But each otter is different and has its own character and story to tell. We learn so much from these animals and feel privileged to work with them.
Cubs at the Sanctuary The biggest news this month is the arrival of Shamrock from Ireland. We received a phone call from Emma Higgs of the Irish Wildlife Rehabilitation Trust to say that a young otter had been found in Galway which Shamrock was acting in a very tame manner. [Photo: Danny Donoher] Unfortunately there is nowhere in Ireland to care for these animals so we arranged for her to come to us. Emma brought her over on the ferry and handed her on to Trish where she spent the night. It was then on to Callander, where we met up to bring her back to Skye.
It had been a long journey and she was clearly not impressed with being in a pet carrier for all that time. As we passed through Glencoe, I looked over my shoulder and saw her sitting in the back of the car. She had pushed up on the lid of the box and released a small hatch and climbed out. Now a healthy otter loose in the back of the car is not to be recommended, so Paul quickly stopped as we thought what to do next. Fortunately we had another larger pet carrier with us and so we opened the door of that one to try and coax her in. Much to our surprise (and delight!) she put
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www.otter.org IOSF e-upate no. 28 April 2013 her head in to investigate and I was able to give a quick push on her backside to shove her in and close the door.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, thank goodness, and a couple of hours later she was tucked up in the hay in her new enclosure. She has settled in very well and is eating so now we have to wait and see how things go with her behaviour. We hope to successfully rehabilitate Shamrock for release as a wild otter.
The other cubs in the sanctuary are doing very well. Ness is big and strong and will be Shamrock [Photo: Danny Donoher] released shortly. The three little ones, Bubble and Squeak and Willow, are on the croft and enjoying the space and pool.
Display at Aquarium of As you will remember Bubble and the Lakes Squeak came from Cumbria and were initially cared for by Sarah Neill of the Aquarium of the Lakes. They have been following the progress of the cubs and have now put up a display to show their visitors about the work of IOSF. Many thanks to Sarah and her team.
If you would like to contribute to help with the care of the cubs you can send a cheque marked “Hospital” on the back or you can donate online at www.ottershop.co.uk
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British Animal Honours It has been a very exciting month for IOSF as we were delighted to be presented with the Animal Conservation Award at the British Animal Honours which was shown on ITV on Thursday 18 April. We were actually in Indonesia for the otter workshop when we received the phone call to say we had won. We were so surprised but thrilled.
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www.otter.org IOSF e-upate no. 28 April 2013
The actual filming of the presentation was done at the Elstree Studios in London, which were used for filming huge feature films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the Dambusters. The television studios are used for programmes like Eastenders and Holby City. So it was very different to our normal life on Skye!
We have been very touched by all the emails and messages of congratulations from all our friends and supporters. Although this award was actually presented to Paul and myself, it is for the whole team including Janet Wildgoose and Helen Stephenson, who do so much in the office and help with the animals. We would also like to thank Jackie West and Andrew Cameron for all their help and advice. But we would also like to thank you as, to be perfectly honest, we simply couldn’t do any of the work without your loyal support.
Otter Awareness Day Make a date in your diary – Wednesday 29th May 2013 – is Otter Awareness Day. We hope many of you will be doing things to celebrate otters and make other people aware of these wonderful animals and how important it is to conserve them.
If you can’t do something on the exact date then please do arrange something when you can. Mull Magic are holding an otter watching afternoonon Tuesday 28th May from 2-6pm. – you can find out more about this by phoning Ruth Fleming on 01688 301213 or email [email protected] or check their website at www.mullmagic.com Let us know what you will be doing and we can add it to the Events page on our website.
Update from India Apoorva Kulkarni has been working in a fishing community to learn more about the conflict between fishermen and otters in the Kavery river in the Karnataka state of India. During her time there she held meetings with the fishermen to find out more about the extent of the problem and the attitudes towards otters. Clearly otters and fisheries is a worldwide problem and one which was also discussed in Indonesia. Apoorva is now writing up her work and will submit a full report in due course.
But we received a wonderful email from Apoorva meeting with fishermen during her her telling us that she has been chosen to research work receive a fellowship to attend a summer school at the Duke Marine Lab at Duke 4 of 5
British Animal Honours 2013 IFAW Animal Action Wildlife Conservation Award Winner Award Winner 2012
www.otter.org IOSF e-upate no. 28 April 2013
University, Beaufort, North Carolina. Only seven people from all around the world are chosen to be a Global Fellow in Marine Conservation for 2013-2014 and she is the sixth Indian ever to have been selected. The five-week course deals with marine conservation and policy making and Apoorva has naturally chosen marine mammals (including sea otters) as her specialist subject.
Apoorva told us “Through the fellowship I will surely gain an insight of core marine research and future opportunities. I am really delighted as they were very appreciative of the work I am doing here on otters, with the help of the IOSF grant. So a big thank you for making this happen for me and I hope I can continue such dedicated work towards conservation.”
Many congratulations, Apoorva, and we are confident that your dedication to otters and conservation will just grow and you will be a strong force in the future of Indian conservation.
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Use this special code to get 10% off at the Otter Shop – ENEWS-28 www.ottershop.co.uk
[offer ends midnight 10 May; adoptions/renewals/donations/e-cards/otter watching days/volunteer Hungary not included ]
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International Otter Survival Fund Join our IOSF mailing list. Click on this 7 Black Park link: Broadford http://eepurl.com/bLTvv Isle of Skye IV49 9DE www.otter.org Scotland The International Otter Survival Tel/Fax: ++(0)1471 822487 Fund
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