Whilst I agree, and would love to see them at Living Coasts (for those who don't know, LI have a purpose built exhibit for them)... I don't doubt that BSL will have the highest standards of husbandry and care
Yeah yeah yeah, but otters should not be kept indoors! Tynemouth do it - it’s awful! Birmingham has a ‘window’ of sorts, but it’s still very poor and should not be happening in 2021!
I wouldn't describe it as perfectly good, it is certainly on the small side imo. But it does show that they can be successfully kept indoors, which also seems the norm in many US places.
I hope I can be convinced by the enclosure in Birmingham and I'll certainly go and support the project, but at the moment I'm feeling sad that they are going there when they could be in real sea water looking up at a real sky in the English Riviera!!
If they can now be imported to the UK, I'm sure it will only be a matter of time until they arrive at LC. And the way they were talking in the video sounds like there may be more otters coming our way.
Made my THIRD visit in 8 months today, just to see some otters. I was the first ZooChatter to see them, beating @cliffxdavis by mere seconds! It has to be said that the enclosure is still a bit poor, even for a smaller species than seals. Also worth noting that the sea otter carving in the underwater viewing section has been removed now they have the otters. This strikes me as a particularly odd move from Merlin, as if to say "we weren't sure they'd ever arrive" or similar. Very happy that I've finally seen them, pretty sure I'll be back again before too long. And hopefully then I can call it a day on SeaLife for a while.
Of all the things I never expected to see in the UK Sea Otters were probably top of the list. I was so happy to be wrong and the Otters were everything I’d hoped for. Agree with all of @Brum comments and would add the male was showing a lot of interest in the female and perhaps there may be even more UK Sea Otters in the near future. For the record I let Brum get there first. Here’s hoping for Platypus, Giant Armadillo and Manatee in the UK in next 12 months
From a size and depth perspective I would say adequate. I don’t know what they will do if they breed as I don’t know the size of the off show area. If you are asking how does it work with no outdoor pool I think in and out would be great but indoor only does allow them more control over the environmentals and airborne disease.
Doubtful - all the recent sea otters to come into Europe have been imported under strict contracts not to breed from them!
Presumably because they are holders of surplus animals to free space in America for other rescue animals. Same as with the Tasmanian Devil breeding programme where un-needed animals are sent to America and Europe. If spaces become filled with home-bred animals then they can't be overflow for the surplus animals.
Allegedly, per information I've received from a number of sources, the reason is that they are seen as a national treasure which attracts tourism, and therefore there has long been an embargo on their export out of the USA - the only reason they have started trickling out is that rescue centres are now at capacity due to the recovery of the species. A temporary relaxation of this policy is why Antwerp, Lisbon and Rotterdam were able to obtain the species in the 1990s, and why Lisbon was able to breed them, and a subsequent tightening of the policy is why these collections were unable to get further stock to keep the breeding population going, and why Living Coasts had to cancel plans to obtain the species a decade ago. There is a similar policy pertaining to American Crocodile, bizarrely. No idea!
