Otters old enough, head back to Brevard’s wild

The Florida Wildlife Hospital Sanctuary released seven otters into Melbourne’s Lake Washington on Monday after rehabilitating them for several months.

All of the otters are believed to be orphaned and were brought to the hospital by different people, according to Tracy Frampton, executive director of the hospital.

Frampton doesn’t know what the likelihood of survival will be like for the young otters since the hospital doesn’t tag the animals to keep track of them after their release.

“We wait to release them until they are old enough to fend for themselves,” Frampton said.

She said the otters were given lots of opportunities to learn how to catch live food as training for the reintroduction into nature.

Their diet includes fish, shrimp and fiddler crabs, which Frampton said can be tricky since they can pinch back.

“A lot of their survival techniques are learned,” Frampton said, “but a lot are instinctual.”