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Otter Watch: Zoo officials think babies could arrive soon
By Bob Holliday
bholliday@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON -- Chloe peeked out from a large log, but not even a fish could coax Miller Park Zoo’s female North American river otter into the open. | Photo gallery

“I think she’s pregnant,” said Miller Park Zoo Superintendent John Tobias, explaining the otter’s shyness and heft.

If so, Chloe would be the first river otter to give birth at the zoo during Tobias’ 16-year tenure. Tobias guesses there could be a baby otter or more within the next 10 days.

In preparation for the big day, keepers have boarded up part of the den to give the otter more privacy. Everything else remains the same, including the diet of fish.

On an afternoon earlier this week, the male otter, Ozzie, got most of the fish as he scampered about the exhibit to get what keeper Wendy Klessig threw.

The soon-to-be father is “three years old and real fast,” Klessig said, adding Chloe, trapped in the wild in Ohio as a nuisance, is closer to age 9 or 10 and not so fast.

Ozzie, who was at the zoo first, was born in captivity, zoo officials said.

Klessig believes Chloe is pregnant, but only time will tell since as a physical examination isn’t practical.

“She is moving real slow and is wider on the back end,” Klessig said. If born, the pup or pups would remain for a while at the zoo and then be moved to another zoo to avoid a male pup fighting with Ozzie or a female pup breeding with him.

“We’re excited about it. There’s not a lot of babies born here,” Klessig said.

Last year, the public got excited about the possible birth of a bald eagle at the zoo, but that didn’t pan out when one egg of Beauty’s disappeared and the other was infertile.

Eric and Cory McTaggart of Ottawa were among zoo visitors watching a recent otter feeding.

McTaggart looked for Chloe, but she was out of his sight. He saw, instead, Ozzie dashing about snatching up fish.

The prospect of a baby otter excited McTaggart.

“That would be good,” he said as he held his 2-year-old daughter, Molly, and promised to return when a baby otter arrives.

Take a look
Miller Park Zoo's river otters, Chloe, left, and Ozzie, hide inside a hollow tree trunk Tuesday. Zoo officials think Chloe is pregnant -- possibly with two baby otters. (Pantagraph/CARLOS T. MIRANDA)
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Reader comments on this story - 7 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

houser wrote on Apr 3, 2008 1:29 PM:

" Pantagraph, please, oh please DO NOT start an "otter watch" column for the next 3 weeks, with gripping stories about how the otter may have gotten pregnant and all the details of otter gestation. "

Red Reeky wrote on Apr 3, 2008 11:31 AM:

" Are we sure it's not an eagle? "

cocoa wrote on Apr 2, 2008 5:19 PM:

" Super J, I'm with you on that! "

BELLA wrote on Apr 2, 2008 3:50 PM:

" "THE MALE OTTER, AND ASSUMED FATHER-TO-BE, OZZIE"... ASSUMED? DID WE HAVE ANOTHER MALE OTTER SNEAK INTO THE ZOO????? THIS NEEDS TO GO TO LENO!!!!!WE ARE QUITE HUMOROUS HERE IN BLOOMINGTON, IL. "

Megg wrote on Apr 2, 2008 1:57 PM:

" Crybaby- Freud would have a lot to say about you thinking that tree trunk is shaped like fallopian tubes! :) ;) "

Super J wrote on Apr 2, 2008 1:16 PM:

" I wish all news was like this.

Seriously. "

Crybaby wrote on Apr 2, 2008 12:10 PM:

" Well, what with the hollow tree trunk shaped like giant Fallopian tubes, it's not surprising that Chloe is pregnant. Besides, what else would you expect if you moved next to a 'real fast' Ozzie? "
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