Staff at Nelson's Natureland zoo, New Zealand, were reeling from the shock of their deaths last week, operations manager Gail Sutton said. However, they were also relieved that they had gone together.
Daz, 19, and Chip, 16, were elderly, as an otter's average lifespan was 13 to 15 years, she said. They had been unwell for two weeks and had spent a week in a quarantine area.
After completing treatment, they were due to return to their enclosure the next day but died that night. Autopsy results indicated that they suffered heart attacks, she said. Pathology reports were expected to determine what caused the attacks.
"It seems the stress of one having a heart attack was enough to trigger the other heart attack," Ms Sutton said. "They were always so close and never apart. They always cuddled together. Both went together, and that's a blessing for them."
The otters, which were popular with Natureland visitors, lived there for 15 years and helped to raise awareness about the threats facing otters in the wild.
3 comments:
watched Simon King's re-run of his "shetland" doc on beeb last night
moving when he cried, when hearing about the sea otter that died (and just by hearing it on the phone)
sad story this one too
but they had a fine & fun life together, isn't it
RIP
Otters do know how to enjoy life.
That's quite an assumption. They might want to check out the medication they were on.
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