Orlando tourist rescues 2 otter orphans
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20th February, 2008
Orlando Sentinal, Orlando, Florida, USA
R achel Port's vacation at SeaWorld Orlando ended with a real Florida wildlife experience.
After spending two days watching captive marine life at the theme park, she returned to the Hilton Hotel at Lake Buena Vista, only to find two baby river otters on the hotel walkway.
"They were just sunbathing right on the sidewalk. They were curled up together," said Port, a 35-year-old attorney from Atlanta. "I was like, 'Oh my God, are those otters?' "
The young female otters are two of five young river otters rescued recently by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Central Florida in the community of Christmas. Port found the center after calling 411 in search of a rescue group.
"A lot of people saw them and kept moving," Port said. But she also was worried that people might try to pick them up as a pet.
T he center will keep all the otters until they reach 6 to 8 months old and they are able to take care of themselves, said center director Ron Hardee. He credits Port for her efforts, as she sat guard with the otters for almost two hours.
"They're innocent at that age," he said. "They were in trouble and she was trying to find help for them. She stayed there."
The two black, furry otters, which are about 10 weeks old, wrestled around together inside a small crate Tuesday at Hardee's home, which also serves as the rehabilitation center. He nestles the otters in his arms six times a day to bottle-feed them a formula used for puppies.
 Hardee said December is a birthing season for river otters, and it's common to find them within the first three months after birth. The last time the center found a large number of otters was during the 1998 drought, when eight otters were found, he said.
"The rivers are still healthy enough, but not high enough to have the mother otter protect what they need," Hardee said.
Baby otters are fearful of the water, so their mothers normally create a protected den -- often a hollow tree -- surrounded by water, which keeps them from wandering away, Hardee said. Because of recent drought conditions in Central Florida, the water levels are lower, meaning the babies are not surrounded by water and can escape.
 "That is serious and it's not going to get any better soon," Hardee said.
The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center has nursed hundreds of wild animals back to health for more than two decades. Hardee has an array of needy animals from owls to raccoons to abandoned dogs.
As she prepared for her trip back home Tuesday afternoon, Port said she was grateful that the center was able to rescue the otters. As a native of Clearwater, Port said, she grew up with an appreciation for wildlife. That appreciation prompted her to immediately seek safety for the baby otters.
"  I don't think I could have come back into the hotel if I didn't see them get picked up," she said.
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