Community Volunteers Help To Remove Fishing Bait From Baby Otter
Sometimes, when we’re fortunate, we come across lively families of otters venturing around our island city.
However, when the famous Zouk otter family was spotted yesterday (2 Feb) along the Singapore River, one baby otter stood out.
A woman noticed that the poor little one had a fishing bait hooked in its mouth. She later took to Facebook to seek help for the otter.
Thankfully, volunteers from Otter Working Group (OWG) were quick to take action and the otter was fortunately freed from the fishing bait.
Baby otter has fishing bait hooked in mouth
The poor otter’s situation was first made known after a post was uploaded on the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group.
Videos showed the otter walking across the pavement near the Singapore River. Noticeably, a large fish bait was hooked in its mouth, not budging even as it moved.
In another short 2-second clip shared, the otter appeared to be laying down, trying to get the fishing bait free but to no avail.
The OP who shared the video asked that the National Parks Board (NParks) send help to the otter.
Many concerned netizens also expressed sympathy and pleaded for help for the little one.
Baby otter rescued on 3 Feb
The very next day (3 Feb), a netizen shared an update on the baby otter’s predicament on Facebook.
He shared that OWG had been informed about the otter in need of help on 3 Feb itself.
But the rescue was a tricky one—it was hard to isolate the single otter pup from its family.
Thankfully, the OWS volunteers managed to work through the challenges.
At 3.18pm, the netizen shared that the fishing bait was removed from the otter’s mouth.
To ensure its safety, the otter is still under observation on the ground.
Be responsible when fishing
Kudos to the volunteers for rescuing the otter. MS News hopes it has a smooth recovery ahead.
While it is fortunate that the baby otter received the help it needed from kind volunteers this time, others have not been as lucky.
So do be responsible when fishing and dispose of your fishing baits. Only then can we better coexist and protect the wildlife that inhabits our island city.
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Featured image adapted from Chun Kit Soo on Facebook and Bel S. Lozada on Facebook.Â
