Environmental Enrichment - Otters

Back to main Environmental Enrichment section

Otter Enrichment July 2009 - Trout Ice block

Above is one of the park’s work experience students ready to put the ice block into the otter pool for their midday feed.

Here are the otters investigating the ice block and trying to figure out how best to eat it. They become very playful with it normally by climbing on it and pushing it around. We normally give them ice blocks once a month, usually when the weather is nice and warm.

Here the ice is beginning to melt and they are dragging it up onto the side of the pool to tear the fish out and eat it.

Above is the otter’s finally eating the pieces of trout they have retrieved from the ice.

This is a good enrichment for the otters, as they find it fun to investigate and initially play with, and it takes them longer to retrieve their food, increases feeding times.

Want to Help?

A visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park can now be even more worthwhile. By adopting an animal, you can provide a helpful contribution towards the costs of keeping and feeding the animals and supporting our conservation breeding programmes... click here for more information