The unbelievable moment a wild otter cub approached a family on the Isle of Whalsay has been captured on video.
The female cub, believed to have lost its mother, approached Magnus Sandison and his family as they walked their dog on Sunday morning.
The odd behaviour rang alarm bells, and after hearing the community had heard the otter’s cries for help the night before, they contacted the Scottish SPCA and Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary for help.
Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary on Shetland has now taken in the cub, which has been named Luna as she was rescued on the full moon.
She “gulped” down the food she was given when she arrived but is now settling in and “doing great”.
Jan Bevington, the centre’s director, praised Mr Sandison – who even took a ferry to get the cub the care she needed.
Cub was ‘desperate for help’
He took the cub on the ferry to the Scottish SPCA, who then delivered it to Hillswick Sanctuary.
Mrs Bevington said: “The cub found and followed them when they were taking their dog for a walk on Sunday morning.
“Its behaviour made them realise it was clearly desperate for help.”
“Later Magnus heard that other people had seen and heard the otter crying for help on Saturday night, so it must have lost its mum quite some time earlier.
“They managed to catch the cub and look after it. While we asked Debbie Caithness from Scottish SPCA to collect it off the Whalsay ferry and bring it to Hillswick where Richard and Alison Riley settled it in to the new otter unit alongside Freddie, but in a separate pen.
“It turns out the cub is a female, and very frightened, so she is quite fierce and ferocious.
“We have managed to feed her a few times already and are hoping that she gets over the stress of coming into captivity and settles in to life at the sanctuary over the next few days.
“Luna is beautiful and she is doing really well now. At first she was gulping down her food, she was so hungry. But now she is great.”