Skip to content

The rehabilitation centre in North Devon helps orphaned otters

BBC A photo of an otterBBC
The charity is run by volunteers

A North Devon charity has gone from a pen in a back garden to a fully-formed centre which cares for orphaned otters.

UK Wild Otter Trust in North Devon reported a record number in need of help after it moved to a bigger premises in September 2021.

In the last year they received 32 orphaned otters and released 29 back into the wild.

The centre has a "cub hospital" on its two-acre site and 19 enclosures for the mammals.

A photo of Dave Webb
Dave Webb is the founder of UK Wild Otter Trust

Dave Webb, the founder, said the charity is run by volunteers and it takes about £3,000 to rehabilitate each otter.

He said: "We started off with one little pen that I knocked up in the back garden, that went to two, and now we're sat here in a two-acre site with a cub hospital, two cub rooms and 19 enclosures."

presentational grey line

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].