Woburn Safari Park welcomes new otter pups

A litter of five Asian short clawed otter pups has been born at Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire and the public is being given the opportunity to name one of them.

The Park is now inviting people to enter an online competition to suggest an Asian name for one of the male otter pups before Friday 26th August.

Park keepers will then select the winning name from all of the entries, to be announced on Tuesday 30th August.

The winner will receive a VIP Off Road Safari Adventure Plus experience and £50 of gift vouchers to use on the day of their visit.

Born to mum Kelani and dad Kovu, the pups currently live all together in a burrow in the ‘otter falls’ enclosure in the Park’s Foot Safari.

The parents first met in April this year when Kovu arrived and fortunately the pair hit it off immediately.

These new births are of particular importance as this otter species is vulnerable to extinction in the wild largely because of habitat destruction due to agriculture and aquiculture, pollution and hunting.

Louise Moody, senior keeper at Woburn Safari Park, said: “We went to check on the otters and we were surprised to find that five more little faces had sprung up within the den.

“Mum’s due date had been on the calendar for two months as an otter’s gestation tends to be between 60-64 days, but we were delighted to discover that all of the pups were healthy, active and very noisy.”

The pups will start to explore their spacious enclosure over the coming weeks and mum will nurse them until they are about 14 weeks old.

After about six months they should be able to take their first swim.

Including the five new pups, there are now seven Asian short clawed otters that live at Woburn Safari Park.

To name an otter, visit: www.woburnsafari.co.uk/pupnaming