Creature Feature - January 2005
	Oh No! It's Rotters! Every few years we get the duty of raising a litter of North American River Otters. At Florida Wildlife Hospital we call them "Rotters" short for (spoiled) Rotten, I mean River Otters. This year we received a total of SIX! Three from one litter orphaned by development, one found in a seawall in Cocoa Beach all by himself (still unexplained), and two were transferred in from another rehabilitator just south of us. Only weighing in at about 400 grams on arrival, these babies eat five to six times per day! We have never had babies this small so it is a new experience and challenge for all of us. It takes about 10 minutes to feed each baby per feeding until they start biting through the nipple on the bottle, then they will graduate to bowls of formula. Soon after, we will teach them to swim (yes even they have to learn how to swim). Because baby otters stay with their mom for longer than other mammals, we will be caring for these otters until August or September! Our estimated budget for raising these six otters until September is $400-$500 per otter, not including cage modifications we will need to make and pool maintenance when they go outside. If you make a donation to help raise these otters you will receive periodic email updates on their progress. Donors of $100.00 or more will receive email updates and a photograph. Please include "for the otters" and your email address on your donation. Here is a video still frame of our two oldest otters during their first swimming lesson. They have to learn how to keep the water out of their nose! Otter Video Clips: Clip Name Connection Speed Swimmin Otters Broadband Dial-up Wrestlin Otters #1 Broadband Dial-up Wrestlin Otters #2 Broadband Dial-up ( video clips require Media Player 9 Series ) UPDATE 02/12/05 Two more otters admitted! Yes that's right, now we are up to 8 !!!!!!!! Two more baby otters were found in Rockledge sitting in the same place for two days. The nearby canal had recently been dredged and the babies were somehow seperated from mom. They are about the same size of the group of four and they know they are otters! Florida Wildlife Hospital is a non-profit organization which cares for wildlife patients with donations from the public. We receive no state or federal funding. If you would like to contribute for medications, food and care for this and the other 3000 wildlife patients we receive yearly please use the donations link below or mail to : Florida Wildlife Hospital, 4560 N US Hwy 1, Melbourne, FL 32935. You may email for more information. Thank you for supporting Florida Wildlife Hospital and Florida's Treasure...our wildlife. Other Creature Features White Pelican River Otters Snail Kite Great Blue Herons Babies! Glaucous Gull