In spring 2017, the ARC for Wildlife rehabilitation center in East Texas took in seven orphaned baby otters.
When the otters arrived at the rehabilitation center, they ranged in age from a few weeks to a couple months old. The shelter named them Chubby, Screamer, Mean Little Girl, Chubby Girl, Sweet Little Girl, Slasher, and Bruce the Shark. They nicknamed the cute babies the “Magnificent 7.”
The adorable baby otters had the best time at the rehabilitation center! When they first got to the center, they all bottle-fed together. They also had lots of parties in their nursery.
Once the otters were old enough, the staff moved them to an outdoor enclosure that had lots of water features and plenty of space to roam around. The otters were so happy to have all this space, and they began running around and playing together.
The staff loved watching the otters interact with each other! The otters would swim in the water together, play with toys, and have a great time.
The staff shared tons of videos of the otters growing up on their Facebook page, including a cute video of the otters learning how to fish and hunt.
In December 2017, when the otters were seven to nine months old, a windstorm hit East Texas.
The windstorm knocked a huge amount of autumn leaves off the trees in the otter’s enclosure. Once the windstorm was over, the rehab center staff let the otters out to play in the leaves. The otters had never encountered fall leaves before, and the staff wasn’t sure how they would feel about them.
It turned out, the otters loved the leaves!
The otters ran around, jumping into piles of leaves and rolling around in them. They also climbed on top of the obstacles in their enclosure. The otters mostly stayed together as they ran through the enclosure—you can clearly see how much they’ve bonded.
The otters had a blast playing together!
By spring 2018, the Magnificent 7 were all grown up and ready to be released into the wild.
The ARC for Wildlife staff released the otters in a nearby river. They had cameras near the river, allowing them to monitor the otters and make sure everything was okay.
“We are still able to catch glimpses of them on our game camera (OTTER CAM 1), when they hit the feeding station, which is only about every 3rd day now. This OTTER CAM clip shows us 4 of the group meeting up at the feeding station. They all look healthy and very happy!” ARC for Wildlife wrote on Facebook.
The Magnificent 7 are an adorable group of young otters who formed an amazing bond with each other! If you want to see these cute little otters playing in the leaves, check out the video below.
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