Considering we had 19 weeks to prepare and so many people to help why did opening day come round so quickly and surprise us all so much? I’m not sure either but that’s what happened. However, we opened on Good Friday without any major hitches or glitches and only a few wet patches of paint. Most of us were quietly confident that we hadn’t forgotten anything too important and we were right.
It was a pretty quiet day though; the rest of the week has been too, the weather hasn’t been great and it is very early in the year so things will pick up soon.
The Wallabies have surprised us over the last few days, at first there was one joey, then Denis saw two and then this morning Sonia and I saw three! All still in there mothers pouches but all looking healthy (their faces did anyway) and one of them has quite peculiar large blond eyebrows; very becoming.
The Fallow Deer have been testing our patience by creating holes in their fencing that you’d think they couldn’t get through but they do because they end up in the wrong enclosures and can be awkward to put back. After a short while and some minor repairs all the deer were back where they should be but I am anticipating further escapes; I’m not sure why though because the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence.
The otters are all doing fine. Hilda has moved back in with William and has him under her thumb again, a position which seems to suit him just fine. The little Asian Short Clawed female is getting on very well and comes out with the Family all the time now and demands to be fed just like everyone else, she is very cute.
The four cubs (Biggy, Smalley, Cinnamon and Leap (we decided that the name Spotty wasn’t very becoming)) are still at home at night but go to work every day and if it isn’t too wet or cold they go into their own pen for a few hours. They have two ponds and a stream to explore and seem to like it if it’s not too cold. We have been encouraging them to search for shrimps and daphnia which mainly entails the keepers getting wet and muddy and the otters looking on waiting for the goodies. However, as a reward for our efforts Biggy has decided that the fresh food is so nice it’s worth him making the effort to catch his own and he joined me in the stream this morning. He was very enthusiastic as he sploshed and splashed around my hands and feet and at last caught one of his own. He had a very satisfied expression on his face as he chewed it up but then thought his work was done and started whining because he was wet and the day was cold. Into my jacket he went and settled down in there very quickly, nice and warm see and he knew it. He was very unwilling to come out too.
Cinnamon is doing fine; although she does have the occasional try at biting a keeper she is settling down well and is showing us her nicer side at times. She has romps with Biggy and is a bit of a thug in a sisterly way. She has allowed me to touch her once or twice in play but I am very wary of her temper and her speed.
Leap is still giving us some concern as she is small and doesn’t always eat as much or as often as the rest of the gang. She is becoming very slightly bolder though and sometimes forgets herself and tries to play with a person instead of an otter. She has lost her instant temper and is enjoying life a little more I think. Her wounds are healed. I was looking at pictures of her with a friend of mine the other day and he pointed out that a number of her white patches appear to be in pairs, as though they were scars from bites in earlier attacks. Who or what might have inflicted this damage will never be known for certain but we speculated that a bigger sibling or even her mother may have been responsible. Or of course she might just be an unlucky little otter and have been attacked by some other predator.
Smalley is the cute one of the bunch. He is playful, cuddly and always pleasant and good tempered. His walking is much the same and that is worrying but he is such a bright little thing that I can’t help but be optimistic for him. He has been being picked on by the others but is now sticking up for himself a bit and I even heard him growl at Cinnamon for rolling him over the other day and she left him alone for a while after that. Good boy Smalley!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Raining Otters
It never rains then it pours! So true here in Cornwall this week in more ways than one. Firstly, if you’ve seen the news or live nearby you’ll know it’s wet, wet, wet here at the moment and likely to stay that way for a few days. We’ve already lost one tree to the wind and with the worst of the weather still to come so its fingers crossed that we don’t suffer any further damage.
It’s also been raining otters; we haven’t had any wild otters brought to us for over a year and the last one was so ill that it unfortunately died after two days. However, late on Sunday 24th February we received a call that resulted in us collecting a small furry bundle from a town in Devon. The otter, about seven weeks old, was seen alone on a road earlier that evening by Cindy who had watched helplessly as the wheels of the car in front straddled the poor animal as it lay in the road. She stopped and picked up the frightened baby which, very unusually, offered no resistance at all. I’m sure that if Cindy hadn’t decided to help, the cub would have perished.
When we got the otter (who we have called Cinnamon) home it was obviously in shock and still very placid. I stayed up with it most of the first night and syringed milk into its mouth. It gradually seemed to take a little more interest in its surroundings and, by tea time the following day seemed to be a bit better but was still dehydrated and suffering from diarrhoea.
Cinnamon had noticed Biggy and Smalley across the kitchen but was too frightened to do anything about it so we decided to allow them to see each other but not have any contact with them for a while. Later that evening, after a good feed and play with the Asian cubs we introduced Cinnamon to them properly; Biggy was fine about it all, touching and sniffing the new arrival but not being aggressive at all. Smalley was another kettle of fish altogether, snorting, screaming and generally not happy but after a couple of hours they all settled down in a big bundle and went to sleep. When I checked them at 3am they hadn’t moved so I decided to leave them alone and let them bond rather than disturbing them for a feed.
Then it became easier to tell that Cinnamon was getting over things. How? Because it started to bite and bite very hard, very hard indeed! That’s why I wear thick gloves, I’ve decided I like my fingers and would like to keep them all; even with the gloves on the bites hurt and easily draw blood if it bites further up my arms where there isn’t such good protection.
So there we are, Cinnamon settling in nicely and we were just getting into a routine when on the following Friday we had another call which resulted in us looking after a very small, miserable and feisty otter cub. This one is not yet weaned and that, together with its size makes me think that this one is very young, probably five or six weeks old at most. It was a very bony otter cub with no spare flesh. Rather disturbingly it also had at least three bites on its back end and several large tics spread over its body. The bites were fresh so we cleaned them up but decided to let the tics alone and deal with them when they dropped off.
Do you remember I said that Cinnamon was placid at first? Well, no such luck with this one who makes up for in ferocity what it lacks in size. The cub, which has an unusual dappled pelt (which is why it’s called Spotty), is hard to feed. It’s very particular about its milk and rarely attempts to eat any solids. We have got the milk just about right now, but solids are a different thing. It will only take solids that are literally put under its nose, usually in my hand or if it gets near enough to one of the others it will steal theirs. The otters don’t seem to worry too much about the theft, after all there’s a good supply of food nearby, but I do because it won’t take food off the glove, it has to be my bare skin or nothing! Is it any wonder that I’m going grey?
So now we have otter opposites; in one corner Biggy and Smalley (cute, cuddly and love to play with you) and in the other Cinnamon and Spotty (Atilla the Hun/Boudicca personality traits, but not so forgiving). Ah well maybe they’ll calm down soon, if they don’t Ill have to learn to type with bandaged fingers. For now they all seem happy with each other and usually snuggle up together, very cute.
That’s all for now, John.
It’s also been raining otters; we haven’t had any wild otters brought to us for over a year and the last one was so ill that it unfortunately died after two days. However, late on Sunday 24th February we received a call that resulted in us collecting a small furry bundle from a town in Devon. The otter, about seven weeks old, was seen alone on a road earlier that evening by Cindy who had watched helplessly as the wheels of the car in front straddled the poor animal as it lay in the road. She stopped and picked up the frightened baby which, very unusually, offered no resistance at all. I’m sure that if Cindy hadn’t decided to help, the cub would have perished.
When we got the otter (who we have called Cinnamon) home it was obviously in shock and still very placid. I stayed up with it most of the first night and syringed milk into its mouth. It gradually seemed to take a little more interest in its surroundings and, by tea time the following day seemed to be a bit better but was still dehydrated and suffering from diarrhoea.
Cinnamon had noticed Biggy and Smalley across the kitchen but was too frightened to do anything about it so we decided to allow them to see each other but not have any contact with them for a while. Later that evening, after a good feed and play with the Asian cubs we introduced Cinnamon to them properly; Biggy was fine about it all, touching and sniffing the new arrival but not being aggressive at all. Smalley was another kettle of fish altogether, snorting, screaming and generally not happy but after a couple of hours they all settled down in a big bundle and went to sleep. When I checked them at 3am they hadn’t moved so I decided to leave them alone and let them bond rather than disturbing them for a feed.
Then it became easier to tell that Cinnamon was getting over things. How? Because it started to bite and bite very hard, very hard indeed! That’s why I wear thick gloves, I’ve decided I like my fingers and would like to keep them all; even with the gloves on the bites hurt and easily draw blood if it bites further up my arms where there isn’t such good protection.
So there we are, Cinnamon settling in nicely and we were just getting into a routine when on the following Friday we had another call which resulted in us looking after a very small, miserable and feisty otter cub. This one is not yet weaned and that, together with its size makes me think that this one is very young, probably five or six weeks old at most. It was a very bony otter cub with no spare flesh. Rather disturbingly it also had at least three bites on its back end and several large tics spread over its body. The bites were fresh so we cleaned them up but decided to let the tics alone and deal with them when they dropped off.
Do you remember I said that Cinnamon was placid at first? Well, no such luck with this one who makes up for in ferocity what it lacks in size. The cub, which has an unusual dappled pelt (which is why it’s called Spotty), is hard to feed. It’s very particular about its milk and rarely attempts to eat any solids. We have got the milk just about right now, but solids are a different thing. It will only take solids that are literally put under its nose, usually in my hand or if it gets near enough to one of the others it will steal theirs. The otters don’t seem to worry too much about the theft, after all there’s a good supply of food nearby, but I do because it won’t take food off the glove, it has to be my bare skin or nothing! Is it any wonder that I’m going grey?
So now we have otter opposites; in one corner Biggy and Smalley (cute, cuddly and love to play with you) and in the other Cinnamon and Spotty (Atilla the Hun/Boudicca personality traits, but not so forgiving). Ah well maybe they’ll calm down soon, if they don’t Ill have to learn to type with bandaged fingers. For now they all seem happy with each other and usually snuggle up together, very cute.
That’s all for now, John.
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