Otter News Archive

Bob Mittler was working in his yard Tuesday morning on Evergreen Drive when he noticed an otter bounding through his yard, with one of the family’s cats in hot pursuit.

“He come ambling through,” Mittler recalled. “I just kind of said, ‘Well, hello there.’ He was on the move.”

After watching the otter do laps around his pool, go in and out of his porch and try to find a way through the fence, Mittler saw it settle into a corner under some boards.

He called his veterinarian, who suggested he contact the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge.

Two staff members from the nonprofit rescue center spent the next 90 minutes trying to catch the slippery creature, which escaped and took to the streets.

“Luckily everyone was at work,” said refuge Director Amanda Wilkerson. “Because we probably looked pretty silly chasing a speeding otter.

“You can imagine us with our nets and boots running,” she added. “They’re a tricky thing to catch up with.”

American river otters are also a lot less friendly than they look in zoos, she said. When threatened, otters will fling themselves at aggressors and bite.

Wilkerson said they have no idea how the otter ended up in the yard. Mittler said his home is at least 10 blocks from the nearest water, and although he’s heard of otters in the area, Tuesday’s encounter was a first for him.

“Weird stuff turns up in that neighborhood,” said Wilkerson, who added that they once received a call about a huge buck deer there.

At the refuge, the staff sedated the 2 1/2-foot otter and checked its health. They determined that it is a young female, probably about 1 year old. She has puncture wounds around her neck, possibly from a dog.

Wednesday morning, the otter hid in a pet carrier inside a cage at the refuge. She could be heard more than she could be seen. Otters, particularly young ones, make a high-pitched sound that is a mix between a screech and a whine.

For now, refuge staffers are slipping her antibiotics concealed in fish. When her wounds have closed, she will have access to a small swimming pool.

Wilkerson said they plan to release her on Nokuse Plantation in Walton County, a 53-acre preserve that is the site of the refuge’s future home.

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