My friend Peter opened the passenger door of his wagon. "A challenge, if your are willing to except it" he said. I peered in and found myself looking at a large lobster keep cage. I looked through the ropes of the cage to find there was something looking back at me and it wasn't a lobster. To my surprise it was a baby Otter.
Peter had been working on the neighbouring island of Tiree and had got wind of two orphaned Otter cubs.Their Mother was killed by a car, and the cubs had taken refuge in a roadside wall. They had been there for days. Peter quickly took the undernourished cubs under his wing and gave them some food and water. In the morning the weaker of the two cubs had unfortunately died. The remaining cub continued to gain it's strength and a few days later was fighting fit again.
Peter has four working dogs to look after, so an Otter was out of the question. He needed someone to take the cub off his hands. Due to previously rearing Greylag Geese back to the wild, I became his first choice for surrogate mother.
I live in a little cottage by the sea. There is a freshwater burn running to it which comes from a nearby freshwater loch. There is plenty of open space and virtually no neighbours. The passing trade is also minimal. What else do I need?
I accepted the challenge.
October 2012
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