Injured baby otter rescued on Hilton Head Island dies

Efforts to save an injured baby otter found Tuesday on a Hilton Head Island bike path failed when the animal died Wednesday night.

Hilton Head Senior Firefighter Bruce Gatlin removed the animal from a path on Cordillo Parkway near Shipyard Plantation after he was alerted by teenage bikers around 5 p.m., he said Thursday.

Gatlin was working at Hilton Head Fire & Rescue's Station 1 across the street from where the otter was found. He called the S.C. Department of Natural Resources to get help for the animal, but when he saw crows nearing it, he brought it into the station's vehicle bay for safekeeping.

The otter appeared to have been struck by a bicycle while trying to run across the path, Gatlin said. One of its hind legs was injured, and it wasn't able to escape the birds, Gatlin said.

"The crows were going crazy," he said. "I knew the pup was not going to be OK."

Gatlin was eventually put in contact with Dixie Stevenson, a Beaufort-based rehabilitation specialist who takes in recovering animals. Gatlin turned over the baby otter to a colleague of Stevenson's around 9 p.m. Tuesday, about four hours after the teenagers rang the doorbell of the fire station.

Representatives of the Port Royal Veterinary Hospital said the otter died Wednesday night. Information about its condition or possible injuries was not available Thursday.

The otter has a sibling and was predeceased by its mother. Gatlin said colleagues saw two baby otters walk across the station property and into a small pond Monday; they were told by a local rescue group the pups were orphaned after their mother was struck and killed by a car on U.S. 278.

The rescue group had asked the firefighters to keep an eye out for the baby otters and try to catch them, Gatlin said.

This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 8:41 AM with the headline "Injured baby otter rescued on Hilton Head Island dies."