Otter News Archive

Missing Otter, Day 19: Zoo officials confident Kitchi still on the move

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13th April 2010

The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Rest assured, Kitchi the otter is not likely hungry or scared on this, the 19th day of his freedom from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

He may, however, be lonely.

Kitchi, a North American river otter, escaped his enclosure March 25 with the zoo’s three other otters. His friends were quickly caught, but some tracks found last week in a muddy culvert behind the Cheyenne Meadows King Soopers have been the only sign of Kitchi.

The 2-year-old was born in the wild in Louisiana, where he survived for a year before being brought to the Springs zoo. His caretakers are confident he’s using that experience as he now searches for food and shelter.

“He has street-smarts. Otters are pretty instinctual and they are super smart, so I think even a zoo-born otter would do well,” said Tracy Thessing, the zoo’s director of animal collections.

North American river otters are indigenous to Colorado’s Western Slope, so Kitchi is more than likely the only one traipsing about the Front Range. That is a big change from his environment at the zoo, where he and the three other male otters were best mates, playing and sleeping on logs in their habitat.

Being alone in the wild also reduces Kitchi’s chances of mating to zero, said Sean Anglum, a zoo spokesman.

Though a thick layer of fat would keep Kitchi playing in the snow, the recent spring conditions are prime for Kitchi’s escape romp, Thessing said.

“By now, he’s eating whatever kind of fish are in the water, eggs, even mice. They’ll eat basically anything that is high protein,” Thessing said.

Though Kitchi could be a tasty snack for a mountain lion, Thessing doesn’t think those predators come out of the mountains enough to where Kitchi is likely establishing a home. If a mountain lion or dog were to go after Kitchi, he would likely be able to quickly disappear into the water, she said.

He is seeking security in tall grasses and reeds near water sources stocked with fish, Thessing said.

Regardless of where he sets up shop, he will likely never eat as well as he did at the zoo, where the otters gorge themselves on salmon, trout and other seafood.

Spoiling him is part of the reason the zoo is so intent on getting Kitchi back — not to mention being able to provide him with playmates and medical care. Captive otters live up to 10 years longer than wild ones.

Thessing said the zoo will follow up on Kitchi sightings as long as they come in, though she urges people to try to get a photo or video of the otter to back up their claims.

People who spot the otter, or evidence of him such as fish remains or otter tracks, are asked