Watch orphaned otter pups explore new habitat after their stay at North Carolina Zoo
Two orphaned otter pups glide across the water, frolicking around their new habitat in video from the North Carolina Zoo.
The animals were among four young North American river otters released back into the wild after they received care at the zoo’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, the facility posted this month on Facebook.
“You otter see them exploring their new home,” the zoo wrote.
And thanks to the zoo, you can.
Officials shared footage showing some of the otters bobbing their heads as they swim in their native habitat.
But their lives weren’t always this carefree.
Three of the animals were rescued near the North Carolina coast, McClatchy News reported in May. The fourth otter was later taken in from the state’s mountains, spokesperson Debbie Foster Fuchs said.
All were found without parents, the zoo says, and given tools to help them go back into the wild. The wildlife facility raised the baby otters together with minimal human contact, which officials said would boost their chances of survival.
The otters were released in an undisclosed location in Eastern North Carolina, near where the first three pups were found, Fuchs told McClatchy News in an email Thursday.
North American river otters can grow up to 4 feet long and are found throughout North Carolina.
“They can live in a variety of marine and fresh-water habitats ranging from warm, slow-moving coastal streams and marshes to cold and rapidly moving mountain streams,” the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said on its website.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Watch orphaned otter pups explore new habitat after their stay at North Carolina Zoo."
