Otter rescued from beach
Bryan Copland • Published 3 Nov 2011 09:22
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A YOUNG otter was found starving on a county beach, sparking a countrywide rescue operation on Monday.
Athelstaneford resident David Johnston, 49, discovered the creature as he took a morning run with his dogs on Tyninghame beach.
Within half an hour, a John Muir Country Park ranger and an animal charity worker from the SSPCA were on the scene to look for the otter, thought to be about nine months old.
Mr Johnston said: "Our Border terrier started making a huge racket at something in the rocks on the Ravensheugh section of the beach.
"When I went to investigate there was this otter, lying low in a crack in the rocks, with its eyes wide open obviously terrified and unable to move.
"I phoned the ranger service not really expecting anyone to be too bothered.
"However, by the time I was back at the car park, Tara the ranger and a lady from the SSPCA were arriving. An hour later I got a text saying they had managed to find and catch the otter and were taking it to a vet.
"The next day I got a call from Tara saying the otter was too young to be released back into the wild, it was badly underweight and was being taken to the otter sanctuary at Kylerhea [on the Isle of Skye].
"They presumed its mother had possibly been killed by a dog on the beach."
This article appeared in East Lothian Courier 03 Nov 11
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