{"id":391722,"date":"2025-09-02T11:03:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/391722\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T11:03:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:03:16","slug":"otter-cub-found-abandoned-in-shetland-garden-rescued-by-wildlife-sanctuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/391722\/","title":{"rendered":"Otter cub found abandoned in Shetland garden rescued by wildlife sanctuary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A tiny otter cub has been rescued after being found abandoned in Shetland.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A concerned local called Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary after finding the cub alone in his garden in South Whiteness.<\/p>\n<p>After waiting overnight for the mum to return, the homeowner noticed that the cub had made its way into an outhouse building, where she had curled up on a pile of hay.<\/p>\n<p>The wildlife charity said the cub, believed to be around three weeks old, was squeaking and showing signs of missing its mum.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/b990220bda7e38a2cc9b67326ff9b02c-1756743282.jpg\" width=\"1033\" height=\"583\"   alt=\"An otter cub was found in a pile of straw in an outhouse\"\/>Hillswick Wildlife SanctuaryAn otter cub was found in a pile of straw in an outhouse Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary<\/p>\n<p>Now affectionately named Hope, the otter has been taken into the care of the sanctuary, where she will be closely monitored.<\/p>\n<p>The team posted on social media, \u201cKeeping an otter this age alive after she\u2019s been abandoned by mum is a real challenge and demands round-the-clock attention. So far, so good.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bed28230ffddb365a7bc847dfe704341-1756743306.jpg\" width=\"1023\" height=\"606\"   alt=\"Otter cub treated by Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary\"\/>Hillswick Wildlife SanctuaryOtter cub treated by Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has managed to suck from the bottle and seems to be settled, but it will be a few days (and nights) before we can be confident that she will make it through the trauma she has just been through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Otter cubs usually start emerging from the den at about three months old, but they still rely on their mother for food and will stay with her until they are a year old.<\/p>\n<p>The cubs need specialist care to survive. Rehabilitation at a wildlife centre usually takes up to a year before they are ready to be released back into the wild.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/e4c938880f73bcbe3e267b723d7de268-1756743314.jpg\" width=\"1035\" height=\"583\"   alt=\"The cub will be looked after at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary\"\/>Hillswick Wildlife SanctuaryThe cub will be looked after at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary<\/p>\n<p>The charity has appealed for donations to help it continue to help rescue animals like Hope.<\/p>\n<p>Donations can be made <a href=\"http:\/\/Donate | Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary\">online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n<p>Get all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaCESJzKgsNvKKNOYO2r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">      Follow STV News <\/a>Follow STV News on WhatsApp<\/p>\n<p>Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/whatsapp-qr.png\" alt=\"WhatsApp channel QR Code\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny otter cub has been rescued after being found abandoned in Shetland. A concerned local called Hillswick&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-391722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115134373035121907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391722","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=391722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}