Otter pup hooked to fishing lure as NParks and others work to free it

Singapore – It looks like someone went fishing and managed to snag an otter pup instead of lunch. Or maybe the otter pup went after the fish that had been caught and ended up being hooked.

We may never know exactly what happened. But it left this otter pup firmly hooked to the lure at tthe end of  a fishing line. Once it was spotted and the National Parks Board (NParks) and others alerted, they had to free the pup.

“Little Zoukie (Gen 4) got itself hooked with a fishing bait since yesterday,” wrote Facebook user Chun Kit Soo in a post on Thursday (Feb 3).

The Facebook post included photos of the pup, one of which showed what appears to be half a fish also stuck on the hook.

“Otter Working Group (OWG) has been informed, and they are trying their best to help. This is a very tricky situation – it is very tough to isolate the single pup out from the family,” said the concerned user.

A Facebook user asked if the pup’s family was too big to be tranquillised so that the pup could be helped. “The only thing I can think of is tranquilising everyone and then standing guard over them all until they wake up (while taking care of the little one).”

Chun Kit Soo said there were 15 otters in the group, which would make such a move quite tricky.

The pup’s plight was first posted to the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook page, and  NParks was urged to help the pup.

A video clip showed the family walking byside of  the Singapore River, with the youngster having the tackle hanging from its mouth such that the pup was unable to dislodge the brightly-coloured lure.

Another  member confirmed that several NParks staff were at the scene on Thursday afternoon, attempting to catch the pup to remove the bait.

In an update, Chun Kit Soo said  the lure had been successfully removed. “People on the ground are still observing. Hopefully, not too much damage on the little one.”/TISG

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Family of otters no match for lone monitor lizards’ powerful tail whacking as they try to steal a fish