Otters return to Devon home after flooding

Dave Webb said changes had been made to the enclosures since the floods

A wildlife charity says eight orphaned otter cubs have been safely returned to their enclosures after they had to be moved due to flooding.

Parts of the UK Wild Otter Trust site near Barnstaple were left underwater following heavy rain in January.

Additional flood defences have now been put in place at the site.

The charity's founder, chair, and trustee Dave Webb said all of the otters were uninjured and are back in their enclosures.

He said: "None of them were in danger immediately, because obviously we acted fairly quickly, we got them out just in case, and as it happened, the enclosures did flood.

"Obviously, while they're an aquatic mammal, or semi-aquatic mammal, they're obviously enclosed in enclosures, so if it floods they've got nowhere to go if it's not dry for them."

Mr Webb said "adjustments" had been made to the enclosures since the floods.

Adjustments have been made to the otter enclosures since the floods

Earlier this month it was confirmed the largest ever outbreak of bird flu was spilling over into mammals, including otters and foxes in the UK.

Mr Webb said this was "of great concern" to the charity, adding staff were taking as many precautions as possible.

He said: "Obviously, there's been four confirmed cases, but all in Scotland. That doesn't mean we should be complacent, the fact is that four otters have been confirmed with having Avian Flu, and as we all know that's a deadly disease and devastating to any species.

"Obviously if it did hit the Eurasian Otter in a big way then that could potentially have serious consequences for that species alone, you know the population that's in the UK.

"What we do here, we do as much precautions as we possibly can you know we limit access and things like that so at the moment it's not an issue to us here, however it's something that we're always monitoring and being really really mindful of."