Media interest has begun to build in Ted's and my new book, which goes on sale in a few weeks. Mohan, the rhino with glue-on shoes is one of my most memorable cases--his story gives the book its title. But I have a few more. One reporter asked me to share another. I chose Persephone's story. Here's the short version with a few links to more information about giant otters and Guyana.

Persephone's Case

Several years ago, I helped treat a wild giant otter with a fishing arrow stuck in her neck—via patch radio from several thousand miles away. The otter, Persephone, had been orphaned as a cub and then rehabilitated to the wild by Diane McTurk, a world-renowned giant otter expert. When Diane found Persephone badly injured with a metal arrow sticking out from her neck and the barb lodged right next to her jugular vein, she coaxed the otter back to her ranch, started her on antibiotics in fish, and managed to get a message me in Washington DC for help.

Giant otters Persephone, (front, right) a young female rehabilitated by Diane McTurk at Karanambu, and Zhivago, a wild adult male, in Guyana, South America.

I made a dozen phone calls to friends and contacts in Guyana to rally the support, funds, and airplane flight to send a local vet, someone

I’d worked with while volunteering my time at the Guyana Zoo, out to Diane’s ranch. Then I talked him through the procedure, checking in via two-way radio patched over the phone. It was the first time he’d every worked on any type of otter. I’d left a small supply of emergency medicines with Diane so he had everything he needed, except experience. He got stuck a few times and but listened to my guidance. It’s a longer story—but, in the end, it all worked out and Persephone returned to the wild. In Persephone’s case, I helped a wild animal while also helping another veterinarian gain new skills. And none of it would have happened without a team of people who, before Persephone, might never have imagined pulling out all the stops for a 60-pound otter.

Diane McTurk and I have published a paper about her techniques for Hand-rearing and Rehabilitatiion Techniques of Orphaned Giant Otters

Karanambu, Diane's home and where the orphans live until they return to the river, is also a guest ranch--for the adventure traveler, I might add.