Skip to content Skip to navigation

Otters pups rescued from KNP

By Subhamoy Bhattacharjee |

Three smooth-coated otter pups rescued from the floods in Kaziranga National Park last week are currently being hand-reared at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC).

The pups, all male, yet to open their eyes, were found floating on hyacinth leaves by local people in Mahpora (Dagaon) from the fringes of the National Park, last Friday.

“The people apparently found the pups while they were fishing. They handed over the pups to the Forest Department staff, who called us to collect them as they could not locate the mother or their den,” said Dr Anjan Talukdar, International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) veterinarian.

The pups are being bottle-fed and looked after by the CWRC veterinarians and animal keepers.

This is the first instance of the species being admitted to CWRC, a rehabilitation facility run by the Assam Forest Department and IFAW-WTI. One adult, however, was rescued and released by IFAW-WTI team in 2009 in Manas Tiger Reserve.

“Since we started working in CWRC more than a decade ago, this is the first instance of otters being rescued in central Assam (despite Kaziranga being a wetland deemed with otters) for two reasons,” said Dr Ashraf, Senior Director, WTI. “First, otters are aquatic and thus floods generally do not have any impact on them and, second, conflict with humans is negligible or practically absent since otters cannot coexist in areas where human activities dominate. A few hundred years ago, all major and minor perennial streams, rivers and beels in Assam would have been occupied by otters.”

WTI has also earlier supported a Rapid Action Project (RAP) in Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bihar to hand-rear a pup rescued from poachers. The pup was successfully hand-reared and rehabilitated in the sanctuary by a team of TM Bhagalpur University.

“The rehabilitation method to be followed is like IFAW-WTI’s 'walk the bear' or elephant reintegration programmes...only in this case, the foster mother will have to 'swim the otters' at the release site for certain period of time, with supplementary fish,” Dr Ashraf added.

Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) is found across south and southeast Asia and is listed under vulnerable category in the IUCN Red List. It is listed in schedule II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Author info

Subhamoy Bhattacharjee's picture

Add new comment

Random Stories

Rahul’s reaches NE students

3 Feb 2014 - 8:45pm | AT News
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday assured the north east people in New Delhi of help from his part to ensure their safety and security in the national.Gandhi, who visited the agitating...

SMS poll management in Chirang

4 Apr 2016 - 9:06pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
In connection with the operation of SMS during poll day in 31-Sidli (ST) LAC, the Chirang election district convened a meeting involving all Zonal and Sector Officers and Master trainers at District...

50 ill after HPC gas pipe explosion

7 Oct 2014 - 6:44am | AT News
More people are believed to have fallen ill in Jagiroad after chlorine gas leaked from Hindustan Paper Corporation paper mill in Morigaon district.Ten more people have taken ill with complaint of...

Will privatization end paper mill woes?

21 Feb 2018 - 2:55pm | AT News
NEW DELHI: Even after Dispur moved Delhi asking for steps to revive the HPC mills in Silchar and Jagiroad, the Centre has stepped up the process to privatize the industries triggering a hail of...

Other Contents by Author

Relocated rhino gives birth to calf

‘Jamuna’, a female rhino that had been rehabilitated into the wild by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department in 2010, has given birth to her second calf in Manas National Park, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, on Sunday morning. The calf was first seen by frontline forest staff of the Bansbari Range during their early morning patrol. Its presence was later confirmed by a field team of IFAW-WTI’s Greater Manas Conservation Project, comprising Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, WTI's Head Veterinarian (North East) and the project-in-charge, and animal keeper Debajit Saikia. “This is the sixth calf born to the rhinos rehabilitated...

Growing Wild: the rescued rhino calves

It’s been a year since Kaziranga National Park was inundated by the worst floods to have hit Assam in over a decade. Among the 100-plus wild animal emergencies that CWRC (the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation: the wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation centre run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department near Kaziranga) and its Mobile Veterinary Service units attended during the floods last year, were eight orphaned rhino calves that were rescued and brought to the centre to be hand-raised. The simultaneous long-term care of eight rhinos has been a massive challenge for the team at CWRC. In...

Elephant specialists to meet on Nov 10-12

A convention of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG), the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Species Survival Commission’s voluntary group of experts for the management and conservation of Asia's elephants, will get underway at Guwahati on November 10-12. The three-day convention will be attended by representatives of 11 Asian elephant range countries as well as presenters and observers from ‘non-elephant’ countries like the United Kingdom and United States of America.

Dr Borah stresses literature’s unifying role

Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah, President, Asam Sahitya Sabha, released the Poetry special issue of Eka Ebong Koekjan, the foremost Bengali literary journal from North East, before an august gathering of writers and intellectuals at Karmasree Hiteswar Saikia Auditorium, Pandu on Sunday. Dr Borah lauded Eka Ebong Koekjan for its untiring efforts through 37 long years to disseminate the richness and diversity of the literature of Assam and the North East to the greater Bengali diaspora. He said that literature has a unifying and harmonising role to play in building up a greater Assamese society incorporating diverse linguistic and ethnic groups in its fold. He defined ‘Asomiya’ as one who is...

107 Wild rescue cases in Kaziranga Flood

Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) units of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) – the wildlife rescue, care and rehabilitation facility jointly run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Assam Forest Department (AFD) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – have attended 107 wildlife rescue cases in the ongoing flood crisis in Kaziranga National Park as of August 1. Kaziranga, one of India’s UNESCO world heritage sites, has faced a major wildlife crisis this year due to what are being described as the worst floods in a decade. As large areas of the park are inundated in the annual monsoon floods, wild animals seek higher ground across National Highway 37...

Forests Minister visited CWRC

Pramila Rani Brahma, Environment and Forests minister of newly formed Assam government visited Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), the wildlife care facility jointly run by Assam Forest Department, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) as part of her two-days visit to Kaziranga National Park on Thursday.

A Royal Couple, Orphaned Animals and a Painted Elephant

Their Royal Highnesses William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this afternoon visited IFAW-WTI’s Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park, Assam. CWRC, run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with support from the Assam Forest Department, is the only facility in India where orphaned and/or injured wild animals of several species are hand-raised and/or treated and subsequently returned to the wild. As of March 2016 the Centre had handled 4,322 animal cases, with 2,465 being released back to the wild – a rehabilitation rate of nearly 60 percent. Their Royal Highnesses...

Conservationist Ashok Kumar honoured

Ashok Kumar, Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) was honoured with the Sanctuary Legend Award at the prestigious Earth Heroes event held at NTPA auditorium in Mumbai today. The Legend Award is a new honour started by Sanctuary this year. With a career in wildlife spanning over five decades Ashok Kumar’s contribution to conservation is immeasurable. A pioneer in many ways, he has a strong hand in ensuring that Sansar Chand, the most dangerous wildlife trader ever to have operated in India, stayed behind bars. He set up TRAFFIC in India and conducted a milestone seizure of tiger derivatives during his tenure there. At a time when nobody spoke about seeking...

Arunachal youth talks on asiatic black bear conservation

In a first of its kind sensitization programme on Asiatic black bears, 14 youth from Shergaon - a small but important area in Arunachal Pradesh – were taken on an exposure visit to IFAW-WTI run Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) in Pakke Tiger Reserve. At CBRC, the visitors were briefed about the importance and need for conservation of wildlife and bio-diversity in Arunachal Pradesh. Shergaon falls in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh and the residents are predominantly Sherdukpten, a tribe Buddhist by religion. To effectively spread the message of wildlife conservation among the villagers of Shergaon, IFAW-WTI partnered with a local NGO named Garung Thuk....

Wanted wildlife trader arrested

In a covert operation assisted by WTI, Hari Singh and Munni, husband and wife, were apprehended in Gwalior and 27.5 kgs of pangolin scales were seized from them. It is a huge development in busting the pangolin trade racket since they are a crucial link to the trade that has been flourishing for the last few years. Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) in co-operation with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) was able to apprehend the accused after a regular and steady surveillance using phone and modern tracking devices. Pangolin scales are high on demand for various reasons and the trade has been going on for several years. However, this has been the first major development in busting...