The Bishan otter family is known for both its adventures and misadventures across Singapore.
However, just like in Singapore’s Cabinet reshuffle, our favourite otter romp seemed to have conducted a reshuffle of its members as well — i.e, one seemed to be missing.
This was noticed last week by local otter watch group Omni Channel.
The lost otter was identified as White Tip, fondly called because of the white band around her tail tip.
As if that wasn’t enough to distinguish her, she also has no ear on the right side of her head.
White Tip was last seen at Lower Peirce and Bishan Park with the rest of the “Bishan 12”.
When the otter family pack came back to the Marina area over the weekend, it was noticed by many veteran Otterers that there were only 11 in the pack.
White Tip was then declared missing.
The Otter channel also observed that the Bishan romp returned to Bishan on Monday (27 Jul) from the Marina Reservoir.
Pointing out that the gang wouldn’t usually go back to Bishan so soon after venturing to the Marina area, it was surmised that the family knew they were down a unit, and went back to Bishan early to find their missing girl.
White Tip was very soon reunited with her family of 12 and escorted back this morning (28 Jul).
It was also noted that the misadventure-prone girl had injured her hind leg. However that doesn’t seem to be stopping her from catching her own meal.
While the reconciliation is something worth heaving a sigh of relief for, the Bishan 12 know that the young one has a propensity for going off on her own.
In the past year, there were instances where White Tip went missing, only to be reconciled with the pack in no time.
Last year in July, another otter watch channel Ottercity spotted White Tip all by herself in Defu, cutting a lonely figure among busy roads and industrial traffic.
She even slept in front of a rubbish dump at one point.
No one else takes going off the beaten path as literally as this one does.
As S’poreans expressed their relief that White Tip had been found — once again — we wonder when is the next time this little one is going to embark on her own solo adventure, and have to be brought back to the rest of her gang.
Perhaps White Tip goes on private excursions in an attempt to carve her own independence away from the family.
As long as she returns to her family once in a while and doesn’t get badly injured, we think she should continue to enjoy life her own way.
After all, who doesn’t like a notorious young lady with a mind of her own?
Read also:
Featured images adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
The suspect casually watched the woman become consumed by flames.
The thief left the wallet and more than RM200 behind, presumably to mislead the 72-year-old…
Such poor sportsmanship.
Earlier this year, three managers were found to have made manual updates on a customer’s…
On the other hand, some said they'd prefer sitting next to a massive dog than…
Some sustained injuries after jumping from windows, while others starved to death.