Fears for pups after otter dies on road
A DESPERATE search was today underway for two baby otters after their mother was killed on a Suffolk road.The female otter died after she was forced to leave the River Deben between Brandeston and Cretingham on Friday.
A DESPERATE search was today underway for two baby otters after their mother was killed on a Suffolk road.
The female otter died after she was forced to leave the River Deben between Brandeston and Cretingham on Friday.
Normally otters would swim under bridges, but the high water level made this impossible - and she was knocked down by a car.
Penny Hemphill from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust was today searching for the otter's holt where there were probably two pups.
She said: “A member of the public called us straight after the accident and I was able to recover the body and send it for a post mortem examination.
“That showed it was a female with two pups who had been born within the last four weeks. Now I'm trying to locate their holt.”
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But she feared the worst: “They will probably be dead because the water rose so high it will probably have flooded the holt.
“If the holt was built very high there is a chance they could be still alive and then we should be able to help them - but it is a desperate hope.
“We know that a female in this condition will not stray more than half a mile from the holt - and that will be on the river bank, so I hope to be able to find it. But what we will find inside is not clear,” said Penny.
But even if the two pups are found dead, the overall otter picture in Suffolk is looking good.
She said: “Otters are doing well in the county. This news is very sad, but there will be new occupants moving into this stretch of the river to fill the gap.”
