Kerala - Kollam   

Stray otter killed in Kollam city

Staff Reporter

TRAPPED AND KILLED: The stray otter after it was killed at a private hospital complex in Kollam on Wednesday.

KOLLAM: An otter that strayed into a private hospital complex here on Wednesday morning was trapped and killed.

It is not known how the otter reached the hospital. Some people claimed that it was seen on the road in front of the hospital early in the morning. Many mistook it for a mongoose and started chasing it. The animal soon rushed into the hospital complex, but in the process fell into a deep gutter and could not get out of it.

The hospital authorities informed the city corporation authorities about the otter. The civic authorities soon sent a professional stray dog trapper to the scene. He trapped the otter into a noose. The otter was badly whacked on the nose as it gave a fight on being trapped. As the otter tried to get out of the noose, it got fatally tightened around its neck. The dead otter was then pulled out of the gutter and buried in the hospital complex itself.

Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) V. Gopinathan said otters are protected under the wildlife Act and that its killing was an offence. He said the Forest Department would examine the circumstances under which the otter was killed and register a case accordingly. The carcass is likely to be subjected to postmortem on Thursday.

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