Why Otters Should Not Be Pets
First, this is a must-watch. In addition to convincing me that, in spite of how much I love otters, I do not actually want one for a pet, it also confirms that my cat is indeed part otter. The only difference is that she doesn’t like to swim. And I haven’t yet heard her make the evil little chuckle that these otters do . . . but no doubt she can. May I just mention that we have to have child-proof locks on our cabinets so that she won’t get into them?
The video also brings back memories of a book I checked out from the library over and over again as an otter-obsessed kid. Actually, there were two books: one for children and one for adults, but both were about Okee, an orphaned baby river otter cub who was adopted by a human couple and who lived as a pet in their house. Now, this happened back in the 1960s (the book’s events, not my childhood), when we were apparently much more stupid about making wild animals into housepets. Still, I loved reading about Okee’s shenanigans. I particularly remember one episode involving the author’s attempts to put up a Christmas tree that Okee wouldn’t knock over or otherwise destroy.
Unfortunately, both versions of Okee’s story now seem to be out-of-print.
3 comments May 1st, 2007