Where to Begin?

Well, there has been a LOT happening this week, but before I get into all of that, allow me to show you "her royalness" in all her 160lb. glory!


Yes, she definitely has put on the poundage and is no longer the dainty sea lion she once was. And how, you may ask, are they getting her into the water these days? I mean, she has obviously immersed herself to some degree. You guessed it....she is getting her fish put in the pond! So it's either get wet or go hungry. They are trying to track down some live fish to help her along in this acclimation process.

Now, onto one of THE CUTEST residents that we have ever had at Wolf Hollow while I have been there. Drum roll please...................

This is a week old river otter kit (I am hoping they name her Coral...thanks for the suggestion Shanny!). Last Wednesday some people on nearby Lopez Island saw the mother moving her kits across the road. Something must have spooked her as she dropped this little girl in the middle of the road and although they placed her on the side of the path she ran down, she never came back for her. I learned that river otter's eyes stay closed for about a month. Ever since I heard that I have been wondering what advatage that gives them or just the reasoning behind it. We were ALL wondering how fussy they are when trying to feed them, as rabbits are VERY difficult, but the picture below clearly shows that she has NO problem in that area.


Now, being the social creatures that they are, everyone voiced their concern about how it was a shame there was only one. This was even more evident when you looked into the incubator and saw her trying to nurse on the stuffed animal in with her, all the while making these cute but sad chirping noises. Well, I am one of those people that believes that when you put something out to the universe, it sometimes happens.

I had taken a friend out for a belated birthday dinner tonight and we ran into Shona, who is the educational person at the Hollow. She told us that we got not one, not two, but THREE baby otters in today and they are SMALLER than this one. Their umbilical cords are even still somewhat fresh! So, while it's a very sad situation, at least our little girl now has company.