Watch as otter cub waves goodbye to fear of water at Shetland sanctuary

By Lauren Robertson

June 2 2022, 4:11 pm

Luna has been at the sanctuary since January.

Luna the otter has finally gotten over her fear of water at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary.

Staff at the Shetland sanctuary were puzzled the cub, who was rescued from Whalsay in January, was reluctant to get wet despite otters living half their lives in the water.

In what they described as a “major breakthrough”, she was found playing in the pool by herself earlier this week.

New footage released by the sanctuary shows Luna conquering her fear.

A major breakthrough at the sanctuary – Luna the otter cub who arrived from Whalsay in January has finally caught fish in the pool. We could not believe how reluctant she was to get wet, even though she is an otter and otters live half of their lives in the water. We tried all kinds of things to lure her into the water, balancing her fish on a manhole cover in the middle of her pool, then using a washing up bowl and when those tricks didn't work we stretched some material across the pool, dropped the fish in it and then gradually lowered it day by day so she had to go in deeper and deeper to get her teeth around her dinner. So it was with great joy that we went out to feed her and found her already playing in the pool. We pulled out the material, threw in fish and hey presto, she dived in, grabbed one and ran off to her hut to wolf it down. Phew! It never ceases to amaze us how each otter has their own unique character – you never know what to expect.#otter #draatsi #fish #Shetland

Posted by Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary on Monday, 30 May 2022

The team helped Luna get over her fear using a small pool in her enclosure.

Each day, they would balance her dinner of fish in the middle of the pool, gradually lowering it down so that she got increasingly used to getting wet.

In a post on Facebook, the team at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary who have been working with Luna said: “It never ceases to amaze us how each otter has their own unique character – you never know what to expect.”

Luna was rescued by the sanctuary after she approached a family who were out on a dog walk back in January.

Now that she is becoming more comfortable in the water and showing signs of being able to catch fish in the sea, she is one step closer to a chance of being released back into the wild.