CORVALLIS, Ore. — A river otter pup rescued and rehabilitated in Corvallis is one of the newest residents at the Oregon Zoo in Portland.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports that the pup was a few months old when rescued. Katherine Hick of the Chintimini Wildlife Center says he was underweight, dehydrated and had sores on two paws from walking on hot pavement.
Hick says the shelter prefers to return animals to the wild, but the pup wasn’t able to be properly socialized and otters are very social animals. She worried he would become a misfit and fail to thrive in the wild.
The pup was instead moved to Oregon Zoo on July 2 to live with two other river otters.
The zoo says it plans to put all three otters on display later this summer.
