9-19-2003 

  Today was the big day for the two young river otters that we've been taking care of.  Dr. Deb decided that they are mature enough to be on their own so it was time to release them back into the wild.  When we arrived at the pen to get them we found that the smallest one had found a spot in the fence that it could squeeze through and was running loose outside the pen.

  Thanks to Rachel's quick thinking the otter was quickly recaptured.  She set the kennel on the ground and threw a fish inside.  The young otter followed the fish into the kennel and she closed the door.

   We loaded the other otter into the kennel and proceeded to the release lake.  They were carried onto a pontoon boat and we headed to an uninhabited part of the lake.

  A child's wading pool was placed on the shore in a spot where it would be hard to see from the lake and a bucket of minnows was dumped into it.  The kennel was set next to it and the door was opened.  It only took about 2 seconds for the otters to rush out and dive into the pool for a little snack.

  After a minute or two of munching minnows one of the otters stood up and noticed that they were no longer in a pen and there was a large body of water close by.

  You can probably guess what happened next.  If you look right in the center of the following picture you'll see two very excited young otters heading for open water.

  They spent some time exploring their new surroundings.

  After a bit one of them swam close to the pontoon boat and looked up at us.

  After a final look at us the two young otters turned and swam away to become "Wild and Free" once again.

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