Adopt an Otter at the Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary
Otter Adoption Gift Pack
Adopt Big Dave
Big Dave is one of our Asian Small-Clawed otters and is part of Willow’s first litter, born here as part of the breeding programme in 2019! Known for being the chubbiest of our otters, he is often quite easy to spot within the big group. He’s often seen sitting upright and scratching his belly or playing with pebbles and shells!
Adopt Mr Brook
Mr. Brook is one of our Eurasian otters. Born at the British wildlife centre in October 2016, Mr. Brook and his twin brother, Mr. Burn arrived here at the sanctuary in 2018. Between the two it is easiest to spot Mr. Brook by looking at his top lip, he has a white patch which looks like a moustache. He is known to be quite fussy and lazy, often taking his food back to bed. Wrestling with his brother and playing with his rugby balls are some of his favourite hobbies!
Adopt Mr Burn
Mr. Burn is one of our Eurasian otters and after being born at the British wildlife centre in 2016, he arrived here with his twin brother Mr Brook in 2018! Mr Burn is noticeable when looking at his top lip, as he appears to have half a moustache, whereas his brother’s moustache spreads across his whole top lip! He is known to be an excellent hunter and has caught animals such as magpies, seagulls, moles and even buzzards! He is also the least fussy out of the two brothers and usually picks up the food that Mr Brook doesn’t want! Mr Burn was awarded with ‘Good Otter of the Year’ in 2023 on our Instagram!
Adopt Peggy
Peggy is our North American River Otter, making her our biggest resident, she is also our oldest! Peggy was born at the sanctuary in 2005, meaning she is coming up to 19 years old, the average age for her species in the wild is 8-13 years!
Peggy is also known as our most gentle otter, as she loves to climb up her rocks to be hand-fed and is very careful not to catch us with her teeth. She’s very fond of using her buoy as a football and loves a good fish ice lolly. Her favourite food is definitely trout, salmon or chicken!
Adopt Skye
Skye is our female Eurasian otter.
Born in the Isle of Skye, she was unfortunately found as a young and abandoned pup, she was found by a rescue service and put through the rehabilitation process. Unfortunately she became too dependant on people and experienced something known as imprinting, meaning she now sees humans as her friends. Due to this, she arrived at the sanctuary in 2018 and has enjoyed making friends and showing off to visitors ever since.
Her favourite hobbies include chasing the hose, catching food in the water and racing visitors across the windows of her deep tank!
Adopt Pepper
Pepper is one of our female Asian Small-Clawed otters. Born at Cotswold Wildlife Park in 2011, she arrived here at the Sanctuary in 2013 and is now partner to Hercules and mother to Halloumi! Her noticeable characteristics are her dark face and very dark eyes. With the average lifespan of a wild Asian otter being 8-10 years, Pepper is quite an old girl approaching 13 years old! Known for having an attitude, she definitely likes to be boss of the group and even enjoys bossing the keepers around! If you don’t feed her fast enough, you’re likely to get screamed at! But as soon as you pass her a piece of trout, she will be your best friend and even use your boots or legs as a dining table. Her favourite food is absolutely trout and she will only eat cockles if you open them for her.
Adopt Hercules
Hercules is one of our male Asian Small-Clawed otters. Born at Tamar otter sanctuary in 2015, he arrived here in 2017 and is now partner to Pepper and father to Halloumi. Known for being quite relaxed, he’s often the one that takes care of the household chores, such as building a nest and tidying up after Halloumi. He's less fussy than Pepper and has a habit of shaking his food in the water and splashing the keepers before jumping into their lap for another piece. He’s also been known to roll over on command to show off, and usually eats standing up on his hind legs which is very unusual for an otter. Hercules was awarded with ‘Naughty Otter of the Year’ in 2023 on our instagram.
Adopt Halloumi
Halloumi is one of our female Asian Small-clawed otters. She was born here at the sanctuary in 2021 as part of a breeding programme. She is the only cub of Pepper and Hercules. Known for being the creator of chaos, she is usually easiest to spot by her pale, teddy-bear face, or her naughty antics!
Her favourite hobbies include destroying her parents neat nest and dragging the straw all over the enclosure, posing for photos, figuring out food puzzles and copying her dad Hercules by eating whilst standing on her hind legs!
Adopt Willow
Willow is one of our female Asian Small-Clawed otters and was partner to the late Rowan. Together they produced our largest family group. Born at Newquay Zoo in 2017, Willow arrived here in 2019 to be a partner for Rowan, as part of the Asian Otter breeding programme. She is known for being an excellent mum and often shares pieces of food with her cubs. Whilst she’s usually seen leading the whole group, Willow’s best friend is her first daughter Lily, and they can often be seen walking around together and cuddling up. Willow’s favourite midday snacks are meatballs and boiled eggs and she is very good at responding to her name.