BOCA RATON, Fla. — Here in South Florida, we are lucky to live alongside so much wildlife.
You may never have even seen one outside of a zoo, but river otters actually call South Florida home, too.
They are found in all kinds of fresh waterways throughout the Sunshine State.
The Man family lives in West Boca and they relish their backyard view to a little world filled with wildlife.
“We see birds and the turtles come up, the otters, it’s really amazing, we’re lucky,” said Jade Man. “We see them eating fish all the time, they are so cute, they’re adorable. It’s really an amazing experience and we have been watching them since we moved into our house.”
They normally watch the playful family of three from afar, but that changed a few weeks ago when Boaz Man went to walk his dog outside.
“He was growling at something under the chair and I saw one of the otters was just sitting there very unusual, just lying not doing anything,” said Boaz Man. “Usually they are very active and they will run and they will kind of grunt at you and make some contact, but then they’ll go back into the lake.”
The otter was lethargic and limping, and conveniently enough, Boaz Man knows all about animals!
“That otter picked the one house with the Veterinarian,” he said. “It was definitely fortuitous for the otter and for us, and we were really, really appreciative to be a part of that miracle.”
The South Florida Wildlife Center immediately came out, but the hardest part for the volunteers was trapping the slithery wild animal.
They installed fencing and used nets, worried he would escape, but once they safely trapped him, it was time for treatment.
“Supportive care, that just subcutaneous fluids, anti-inflammatories, cage rest, fed him an adequate diet,” said Melanie Lemieux with the South Florida Wildlife Center.
Since his bloodwork and x-rays came back perfect, and he began to heal quickly, rehabbers at the wildlife center knew it was something they see all the time.
“They are very susceptible for second hand toxicity, which could be from an algae bloom, generally caused from runoff from weed killer, pesticides,” said Lemieux.
“Unfortunately, over 90-95% of our cases are human caused issues,” added Dr. Tess McPheeters with the South Florida Wildlife Center.
With specialized care, the little river otter bounced back after a few weeks.
Once they knew he could hunt for his own fish and get in and out of the water, it was time to go back home.
“He started like making this yelping sound and a few minutes before that, his siblings had come out and were jumping out of the water,” said Jade Man.
“He darted straight into the lake and then he was swimming around as happy as can be, it was really just a joyous thing, like a reunion,” said Boaz Man.
His release back into his home lake with his otter family was an incredibly emotional moment.
“I got tears in my eyes because I’m so happy that they were together again,” said Jade Man.
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