International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management

Section 11
Additional Enclosures and Separable Enclosure Areas
It is recommended to have an additional enclosure that can be used as a temporary
holding area, esp. if it can be used to safely introduce unfamiliar or temporarily separated
otters or house offspring that can no longer live with their parents. Although, in the rare
case that paired individuals (i.e. bonded partners/mates) might need to be separated, it is
also recommended to have an available enclosure that is not located near and that is
remote from the permanent otter enclosure. These enclosures should be out of visual and
acoustic distance of the newly separated animals to help reduce the significant stress and
frustration that will likely occur on both otters’ parts, because of the separation. (I.e. when
otters can see and hear each other during the separation, this will greatly frustrate and stress
them, because they cannot be in physical contact with their partner.) Giant otters vocalize very
loudly and they can be heard over quite a distance. The recommendations within this manual
apply to these (and all) enclosures and separable enclosure areas that will be used to house giant
otters. See Section 3 for how the necessary enclosure conditions can greatly reduce the stress
that animals can experience when they are in new/unusual situations. Without these conditions
the otter’s ability to successfully adjust to the new/unusual situation can be adversely affected or
seriously compromised.
Introduction (also called howdy) gates and fences, that can separate indoor and/or outdoor
enclosures, are recommended so that introductions of unfamiliar or temporarily separated
otters can be carried out easily, safely, and in appropriate conditions. It is necessary to
conduct visual-acoustic-olfactory introductions before potentially dangerous initial full physical
contact introductions take place. (Below when the term "visual introduction" is used it implies a
full "visual-acoustic-olfactory introduction".) It is not uncommon that unfamiliar otters injure
or sometimes even kill each other during introductions. The larger the area that visual
introduction can take place, the better. For example, a visual introduction gate 5 m (16.41 ft)
long worked very well to introduce unfamiliar otters, where as much smaller areas, such as only
twice the size of a shift door or a little larger produced much poorer results during visual
introductions (Sykes-Gatz & Gatz pers. obs.). Otters must also have sufficient area where they
can hide or stay out of the other’s view when they feel it necessary and they should be given at
least a reasonable size living area during the introduction period. Enclosures, with no
additional separable living areas other than dens, should design methods that allow
temporary division of at least some enclosure space because e.g. small areas, such as dens,
do not have enough space to allow for appropriate visual introductions. This not only
allows for safer and more effective visual introductions, it also offers temporary additional
living space if otters need to be separated. See Sections 13 & 18 for more information on
enclosure designs needed for introductions and Section 8 for how well otters can dig and climb.
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