Abandoned baby otter mistook harmonica player for its mother

Published on Friday 27 February 2009 23:34

AN ABANDONED baby otter that mistook the sound of a mouth organ for its missing mother has been rescued by animal welfare experts, it was revealed yesterday.

The six-week-old otter, nicknamed Clyde by staff at the Scottish SPCA's Wildlife Rescue Centre near Dunfermline, was found on a path in Windygates, Fife.

He was discovered in January by a student strolling along the footpath playing a harmonica. The lost otter was frantically calling for its mother – and mistook the sound of the mouth organ for her and began to respond.

He has now been cared for at the Fife centre for four weeks. Clyde is to be moved to the International Otter Survival Fund on Skye to continue his rehabilitation.

He will be transferred along with another otter, named Farg, who was left stranded on a tiny strip of land next to the Cameron Bridge distillery in Leven when he was just a week old.

Colin Seddon, centre manager at the Dunfermline Rescue Centre, said the two otter cubs will be cared for until they are a year old then released into the wild.

"Once settled into their enclosure, they will have minimum contact with humans to give them the best chance of survival," he said.