North Devon<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe Colchester Zoo staff member, Jody Bedford, who initially found Mingo said: \u201cMingo was found early in the morning, curled up on the bank of the main lake out in the open, fast asleep and snoring his head off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was found we gave him a few hours to see if mum would reappear\u201d.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754210234_209_0_Otter-cub-who-baffled-rescuers-when-found-in-flamingo-enclosure-at-zoo-rehomed.jpg\")
Mingo was found chilling with the flamingos at Colchester Zoo(Image: Faye Mayern)<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing otters, it\u2019s odd behaviour to see a pup out in the open like he was. He seemed very strong and was very vocal when awake,\u201d said Jody.<\/p>\n
Wild otters are native to the UK and can be found along wetlands, rivers and coastal areas.<\/p>\n
Otter cubs are usually born in groups of two or three and stay with their mothers for about a year.<\/p>\n
Founder of the UK Wild Otter Trust Dave Webb said: \u201cWe\u2019re still baffled as to how Mingo ended up in the flamingo habitat.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a total mystery.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what\u2019s absolutely clear is that he wouldn\u2019t have survived much longer on his own.<\/p>\n
“Otter cubs this young rely entirely on their mothers, and without immediate intervention, Mingo’s chances were zero.<\/p>\n
“Thanks to the quick response from CZS and Wildlife Rescue, we\u2019ve been able to give him a second chance at life, and he\u2019ll be released back into the wild when he\u2019s strong enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754210235_897_0_Otter-cub-who-baffled-rescuers-when-found-in-flamingo-enclosure-at-zoo-rehomed.jpg\")
Mingo was found chilling with the flamingos at Colchester Zoo(Image: Faye Mayern)<\/p>\n
The UK Wild Otter Trust, based in North Devon, has been caring for and advocating for the protection of otters since 1998.<\/p>\n
Their team of tireless volunteers is now working around the clock to ensure Mingo receives the round-the-clock feeding, warmth, and monitoring he needs to grow strong.<\/p>\n
He will eventually be released back into the wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mingo was found ‘snoring’ in a flamingo enclosure(Image: Faye Mayern) A wild otter cub found inside a flamingo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[90889,70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-314082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-north-devon","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114963929163372009","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Otter-cub-who-baffled-rescuers-when-found-in-flamingo-enclosure-at-zoo-rehomed.jpg\")
(Image: Faye Mayern)<\/p>\n