Lost and Starving Otters Finally Reunite With Family Thanks to Kind Humans

Wild animals can get lost, especially when they’re babies. The Bishan otter family in Singapore is proof that, when taking care of so many babies, parents cannot keep track of all of them!

It was autumn when the ten otters added a litter of six new pups to the family. And, being so busy, two otter pups that were only 11 weeks old were forgotten along the way.

The rest of their family were going to the Gardens by the Bay, but these two were left behind. Locals have seen that the otter family had six pups. But now, there were only four!

Worried, they called a community group called OtterWatch…

Darlin, I Lost the Babies!

On 28 December, people saw two small otters near Nicoll Highway. They realized that these animals were lost, so they called Mr. Jeffery Teo, who is a member of the OtterWatch. When the group heard about the lost babies, they hurried to help them out.

They knew that the pups had no chance at surviving on their own as they swam across the deep water.

The Family Was Gone

[dx_custom_adunit desktop_id=”RTK_K67O” mobile_id=”RTK_5yk0″]

The rest of the otter family was over the water at Gardens by the Bay.Teo explained that these pups were not abandoned. They’re observed the family for a long time before that and knew that they were just forgotten:
“They were forgotten by the family. This is likely due to the big family size.”
The team had to act fast, but they also had to catch them!

Starving Babies

The OtterWatch volunteers had to find the babies and deliver them to the family. They were still small and suckled, but would also eat fish.

However, the babies couldn’t catch fish on their own, and that meant they’d be hungry until reunited with the family.

The rescue mission included three teams: one followed the otter family, another was keeping an eye on the pups and the last was making sure there were no other otters where the two wandered…

How Did the Two Get Separated?

Teo explained that it was very early when the family left the holt. Being very dark, the two pups probably tucked away deeper in the holt and still sleeping, they probably didn’t hear the family was getting ready to leave.

The family didn’t notice the two pups were not following,” he said.

The rescue operation was led by The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), and it was quite challenging!