International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management
International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management
International Giant Otter Studbook Husbandry and Management
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Cubs must exercise <strong>and</strong> explore to promote healthy mental <strong>and</strong> physical development <strong>and</strong><br />
skills. As do giant otter parents, h<strong>and</strong>rearers must supervise young cubs during these exercise<br />
periods <strong>and</strong> depending on cub age, health, <strong>and</strong> ability offer <strong>and</strong> encourage cubs to engage in<br />
multiple exercise periods per day. Intuition, common sense, <strong>and</strong> knowledge of giant otter<br />
behavior should be used to perform these actions with effectiveness, gentleness, caring ways,<br />
<strong>and</strong> respect for the otter. E.g. very unhealthy cubs should not be overly h<strong>and</strong>led to give them<br />
the time they need to rest <strong>and</strong> recover. Although, interaction should not be stopped either so the<br />
cub does not feel ab<strong>and</strong>oned. A feeling of ab<strong>and</strong>onment may cause further decline in health.<br />
Smeeton (2001) recommends, “If the intention is to produce a healthy well- balanced individual,<br />
it is essential to spend at least an hour with the single cub at each feeding, h<strong>and</strong>ling it,<br />
massaging it, <strong>and</strong> talking to it.”… All h<strong>and</strong>ling of otter cubs should be done without gloves….<br />
…the contact or bond formed between keeper <strong>and</strong> animal, between bare h<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> fur, is beyond<br />
price.”<br />
During h<strong>and</strong>rearing a dog might be helpful, in addition to human companionship, to provide<br />
additional stimulus <strong>and</strong> companionship. Although little is known about how successful or<br />
appropriate this practice would be, as this was known to have been used only with one giant<br />
otter <strong>and</strong> no further details are available. I.e. a dog had been used a companion for a giant otter<br />
with one of the first giant otters kept in Germany...[<strong>and</strong>] it might be interesting for evaluation if<br />
this is also feasible for giant otters [during h<strong>and</strong>rearing] (Wünnemann, pers. comm., 2004).<br />
This practice although has been used with other species <strong>and</strong> it has been successful. E.g.<br />
domestic cats or dogs have been successfully used for companion animals during the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>rearing of golden cats <strong>and</strong> tigers (Wünnemann, pers. comm., 2004).<br />
What should be done with wild born orphans after h<strong>and</strong>rearing (i.e. release in wild, place in<br />
zoo/institution etc.)? See Chapter 1 Section 5 for this discussion.<br />
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