For the first time in Assam, a hand-raised small-clawed otter was released into the wild in Kaziranga National Park here.
Oliver, raised at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), run by International Fund for Animal Welfare(IFAW)-Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), was released on January 18, WTI Deputy Director Rathin Barman said today.
The CWRC has rehabilitated several animals in the past but this is the first time that a hand-raised otter is being released back into the wild by it.
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DFO Kaziranga National Park S K Seal Sarma said the CWRC team will monitor the animal's behaviour and interaction with nature for a period of time.
This particular otter pup and two others were rescued in September 2013 by fishermen who found him floating on hyacinth leaves when floods had inundated Kaziranga National Park.
After rescuing the animals, the fishermen took them to Dahgaon, a fringe village in KNP and forest officials handed them to CWRC the same day, forest department sources said.
During the next few months, two of the three cubs died.
The CWRC team introduced Oliver to a makeshift water body where he was gradually allowed to fish and develop his natural instincts and was also fed milk.
A radio transmitter was implanted on the male otter on October 25 last by veterinarians led by Bhupen Sarma of Assam College of Veterinary Science, CWRC sources said.
