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Life

22nd Mar 2018

A baby otter is grieving for its dead mother after she was run over

Jade Hayden

baby otter

A baby otter is grieving for its dead mother after she was run over by a car.

The otter, who has been named Coco, was rescued by the Hillswick WildLife Sanctuary after the cub was discovered at the side of a road in Shetland.

The otter was staying close to its mother’s body and was “very distressed” when found.

The sanctuary shared a video of the cub mourning its mother to raise awareness for the number of otters that are killed on UK roads.

On Facebook they wrote:

“We removed her mother from her pen yesterday when she crept out of her cage and climbed into the tub of rainwater we had given her.

“We also took the cage out of her pen, but left the blanket her mother had been lying on so she would still have her familiar scent around her.”

The sanctuary said that they can’t be sure of the cub’s gender because it would cause too much distress to check, but they believe the baby is a five or six month old girl.

They said that when she arrived, she was visibly “upset, staring with wary eyes and not making a sound.” Her excrement was also black and runny indicating extreme distress.

Now, however, Coco is eating her fish and her poo is a healthier light grey colour.

The sanctuary have said they will move the cub to an outdoor pen soon in the hope that her condition will continue to improve.