The local OtterWatch community said in a Wednesday (Aug 31) Facebook post that members of the public have drawn attention to one particular otter who has been injured due to something hanging from her right front paw.
“If you see a limping otter with injury to its front right paw, please take a video and send it to Otterwatch, Ottercity, me or anyone you might know in otterwatching community,” the post added.
OtterWatch went on to describe the object as a “fishing treble hook stuck in her paw and it looks quite deeply set,” adding that, fortunately, removing the hook should be “easier” because it appears to be barbless.
The animal was seen at Singapore Botanical Gardens on Tuesday morning, and the OtterWatch members quickly went over to identify what the foreign object was that caused the otter to limp.
“At first, we could not find the otter. After persisting, we managed to find the otter! It was Flowerhead from the Zouk family! She has been separated from her family.
She had been missing from the family for a few days and shortly after we received feedback from public of an injured otter in their territory,” OtterWatch wrote in its post.
But the group lost sight of the otter after some time, and now a larger search party is looking for her.
“Please do not post hate messages about the fishing community. This lure could have been picked up from a legal fishing location. The lure got stuck, the otter found it and curiously touched it triggering an unfortunate series of events that led to this.
The only reason for this post is to ask the public to help keep an eye out for her,” OtterWatch appealed.
Otters are well-loved in Singapore, even if they can sometimes cause a significant amount of destruction to peoples’ prized goldfish, run after, or even bite people.
Seeing them doing ottery things usually melts even the hardest hearts, and the truth is, enough Singaporeans care about these critters that when they are injured, it’s a cause for concern. /TISG
Otter pup hooked to fishing lure as NParks and others work to free it