Stars aligned to save Otter Karma
A little over a year ago, Paul and Grace Yoxon were enjoying a walk round Plockton, when they stumbled across a tiny shivering otter cub.
It was a stroke of good fortune for the little female otter, as the Yoxons only decided on a walk at Plockton in a last-minute change to their normal routine.
That stroke of luck was compounded by the fact that, for over a quarter of a century, the Yoxons have run the Skyebased International Otter Survival Fund.
With possible cosmic forces at work, the young otter was christened Karma.
More than a year later and Karma, now a fully grown sleek fish-eating machine, has been released back into the wild.
‘Usually we will only keep a cub for 12-15 months, just as long as they would stay with their mother, but because of the time of year Karma came in, it had to be delayed to this spring to allow her the best weather for her first time out on her own,’ the Yoxons told the Lochaber Times.
‘Fortunately, the weather has been perfect lately, so we had no problems deciding it was time for Karma to move out and find her own place. Unfortunately though, it seems like Karma was a bit used to having set meals and a bed already made up for her she was reluctant to go!’
Karma soon realised the sea and shore were her home and set off exploring after the Yoxons picked an ideal stretch of the coastline near where she had been found.
The IOSF originally started as a local environmental centre offering wildlife tours to Skye visitors. In its 27 years, the IOSF, which has now cared for more than 200 otters, has established a reputation as one of the world’s leading otter charities. In the UK, it is the only charity solely dedicated to the conservation, protection and care of otters based on years of scientific research in the UK and around the world.