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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Sean Murphy

Stranded otter cub rescued on Shetland after trying to join puppy for walk

A little otter cub has been rescued on Shetland after trying to join a family and their puppy on their daily walk.

Magnus Sandison and his family were walking on Whalsay with their Golden Retriever pup on Sunday when the adorable little cub approached and began to follow them.

Clearly distressed the family quickly realised this was not normal behaviour.

Sadly, it seems it had been abandoned by its mother and after hearing that the little cub had been heard crying for help the previous night, the quick-thinking islander helped catch it.

Posting about their new arrival on their Facebook page, the Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary team wrote: "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 sometime earlier.

The little otter cub left the puppy very confused (Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary)

"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 into the new otter unit."

The little otter, which Magnus' family have called Luna as she was found on the Full Moon, was revealed to be a female and is now settling in with fellow stranded cub Freddie.

The HWS team added: "It turns out the cub is a female, and very frightened, so she is quite fierce and ferocious.

"But 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."

The adorable cub has been named Luna (Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary)

Followers of the page were delighted to see such an adorable cub saved from being alone and stranded, thanking the quick thinking Sandison family.

One wrote: "So glad she has found Hillswick. She'll be given the best of care now. Hope she settles and thrives."

While another added: "Bless her the wee soul. She seems a hungry little one so I hope she thrives - she's certainly in the right place to do so."

You can follow Luna's story and that of the other otter cubs at Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary here, a small charity they are always looking for help with donations which you can provide here to keep them doing their vital work.

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