Saturday, January 20, 2018

Mammal news

Not birds, I know, but it's an exceptional record.

It was being widely reported on Facebook on Thursday that a 'baby otter' was making a load of noise on the riverbank opposite Cambridge Street, Hebden Bridge. Most people were saying the same as I was thinking - surely it's a mink?

The animal rescue people came out and captured it, and sure enough it was an otter pup! They searched for its parent without success, so it was taken to a wildlife centre in Cheshire. They have pledged that once it's strong enough it will be brought back to this area and released.

I wish I'd seen it, but caught the thread on fb too late!

3 comments:

David Sutcliffe said...

Great news Matt. Are you aware of any photo's ? - for the record of course.

Steve Blacksmith said...

Great news except it's separated from its mother. I'm sure the sanctuary will do a good job of rearing it.

Apparently (in British and European Mammals by Joyce Pope ) they can be born at any time of year, and the litter is usually 2 or 3 young. They can't swim well when first coming to water, so perhaps it got washed away. Hopefully the female still has another cub or two to look after.

Unknown said...



Just wondering if there was any follow-up to this incident re; (a) identification - a former county wildlife recorder/mammal biologist thought the photo looked more like a young mink - and (b) recommended that, however well intentioned, an otter cub should not normally be 'rescued' and will often be better off left where found

If it was an a otter cub and is repatriated successfully then that would be good news.