Clueless otter takes swimming lessons
Drones watch out for crocs as novice gets to grips with nature
● A group of animal lovers is pulling out all the stops for a pampered Cape clawless otter who doesn’t like water. Or swimming. Or catching fish.
The abandoned otter, named Lazarus, is getting daily swimming lessons in the Crocodile River and has been in rehab at the Owl Rescue Centre since September 21, where he has been taught to swim and catch fish. Now the six-month procedure has begun to introduce Lazarus into what will be his new habitat. But it is no easy feat.
Even before Lazarus can be gently nudged from his cage into the water, his small army of handlers send a drone over the area for a quick scan for crocodiles, Owl Rescue Centre founder Brendan Murray says.
Before last week the otter had never caught his own fish, let alone swum or even dunked his head under the water.
“We leave his cage on the river bank and coax him out. When he’s ready, he follows the handler to the water, where he will spend up to eight hours,” Murray says.
The 21 staff members at the centre take turns to babysit Lazarus while he tries to catch fish or crabs. But Murray says some days his spoilt streak shows and the handler has to get into the water with him.
Although Lazarus is three years old, he was rescued and raised at a previous sanctuary where he did not have access to water so he never had the opportunity to learn to swim or catch fish.
When he is finally resettled into the river he will share his space with hippos, crocs and water mongooses.
Murray says though they know a lot about rescuing owls at the centre, having Lazarus around is a learning curve.
“We have around 150 owls a month in our rescue, which we rehabilitate and release within six months. From time to time we do get other animals. The otter is probably the most unusual animal we have had in the rehab.
“He learnt to swim last week. He was scared of water before but now he will play in the shallows. He learns really quickly.
“He is brave enough to go slightly deeper to where just his head sticks out the water when he stands, but he’s still afraid of the deep.”
But the deep end is where he needs to go to catch fish, his favourite food.
“But he still hasn’t caught one. He’s mastered catching crabs and clams. He catches them and then runs to his enclosure on the bank of the river to wash the catch in his water bowl. It’s natural for otters to wash their food before they eat it, but he hasn’t figured out that he can do it in the river yet.”
When Murray is satisfied Lazarus is selfreliant he will leave him at the riverside.
“Right now he still cries when he loses sight of me,” he says.
“The river will become his territory and the hope is that he will mate with one of the local otters and have little Lazaruses.”
Murray says that in the wild Lazarus would have spent 18 months with his mother learning the way of the otter.
“We will leave his house on the side of the bank but we expect he will eventually make himself a dugout to live in.”
According to South African National Parks, male otters are solitary animals but the females will usually be accompanied by their young and so can be found in groups of up to eight. They can live in the wild for up to 12 years and in captivity for 20.
The Cape clawless otter is found predominantly along the coastline to the east of the country but can also be found in the wetter parts of the country.