Amazing otter recovery


A male sub-adult ot ter was admit ted to Stapeley Grange with reports that he was dragging his back legs and also had a wound on his head.


On arrival he was quite lethargic, however ot ters can be very aggressive, so sedat ion was st ill required to allow a proper examinat ion and to take some good X-rays.


treatment (in food to reduce the need for any stressful handling) wasn't an opt ion. To overcome this problem, a long act ing ant ibiot ic and injectable pain killers were administered.


First sparrowhawk patient of 2019


Adult ot ters, in contrast with ot ter cubs, have very low rehabilitat ion success. They are rarely seen and they are very dif f icult to handle, so by the t ime that they have been actually trapped and able to be handled in order to come into rehabilitat ion, they are usually very poorly, and of ten collapsed.


For this reason, when the veterinary team usually has quite expectat ions when we are called to adult ot ter casualt ies.


On this occasion, the ot ter was mildly dehydrated, very thin and had several infected wounds around his face and rear end, clearly due to a territorial f ight .


No other traumat ic injuries were present and no f ractures were seen on the x-rays, so weakness and sept icemia due to the bite wounds seemed to be the main cause of his illness.


The ot ter was stabilised with f luid therapy, ant ibiot ics and pain relief . Over the f irst 48 hours, the ot ter was slight ly brighter, however he wasn't eat ing so the


From then his recovery was almost unbelievable, and over the following few days the ot ter start eat ing, using his back legs bet ter and showing normal aggressive-defensive behaviour.


Once eat ing, he could cont inue the pain medicat ions in his food, so he was moved to an outside pen where he stayed a few weeks whilst gaining weight and mobility.


Af ter a full recovery, he was released near to the locat ion where he was found, hoping that , now much stronger, he would manage to f ind and defend his territory.


Life is pret ty tough for ot ters. Usually they die in their f irst couple of years of their life; with road traf f ic collisions and ot ter to ot ter aggression being the two most common causes of mortality.


Although I've been a wildlife vet for several years, and I've seen a great amount of ot ter cubs been rehabilitated, I can easily say that this is been one of the very few adult rehabilitat ion success I've been involved with.


We were all very pleased with his recovery and we wish him luck on his second chance at life.


7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28