Residents Rescue Two Baby Otters in Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Eurasian otter. Photo by Flickr user David Cook. CC BY-NC 2.0
Two baby otters apparently abandoned by their mother after construction work destroyed their nest were rescued by residents on the island of Kinmen off Taiwan.
Based on information [zh] provided by Kinmen National Park, the two baby Eurasian otters were discovered April 1, 2014. The larger otter weighs 530 grams (a little over a pound), and the other 480 grams. Park experts estimated that the pair were about two weeks old.
The otters were transferred to Taipei, and are now being cared for at the Taipei Zoo.
On the main island of Taiwan, Eurasian otters went extinction in 1986 [zh] due to river pollution. On the island of Kinmen, however, there are less than 100 of the animals living in Kinmen National Park.
The Kinmen National Park has received 27 otters [zh] spotted by residents since 1992, but only three are still alive.
Liwei Zhong reported on the otters’ condition with a video on Facebook:
金門國家公園管理處的新聞稿出來了
也有附一段照顧的畫面
分享給大家看看
由於金門水獺救傷的紀錄太少
不管是縣府還是金管處
大家都很努力的想把這珍稀的物種保留下來
或許之前有些不好的經驗
但 還請大家給金管處多點鼓勵
照顧的同仁 聽說一夜沒有闔眼
後續也希望台北動物園接手的夥伴
努力讓他們長大
Everyone works hard to keep these endangered otters alive.
Maybe we have had bad experiences before, but please give your gratitude to the Kinmen National Park for their hard work. I heard that the staff who took care of the otters did not close their eyes once throughout the whole night. We hope the staff at the Taipei Zoo, who will take care of them next, will also do their best to care for them.
Screenshot from Liwei Zhong's Facebook video of the two rescued baby otters.
Kinmen National Park also explained [zh] how to protect the otters in Kinmen:
金門各水域水獺活動跡象較以往縮減且有分布破碎化趨勢，金門國家公園管理處林永發處長呼籲相關單位、民眾在工程施工時能多加注意周遭環境
In Kinmen, water environments for otters are dwindling and broken up into smaller and smaller regions. Yung-Fa Lin, the head of the administration office of Kinmen National Park, appealed to residents and the relevant departments to inspect the surrounding areas during any construction work.