Grandfather Mountain’s newest animal habitat resident is ready to show visitors her spunky, playful side. Luna was moved up to the Otter Habitat on Monday after a month and a half of quarantine and an introduction process with Grandfather’s other otters: Oconee, Santee and Nottaway.
“Luna is extremely playful and curious,” said Habitat Manager Christie Tipton. “She is loving her new giant pond and I think that visitors will find her to be much more active than Grandfather’s other otters.”
Luna is an eleven-month-old otter found abandoned in the yard of a Burke County family last March. After keeping watch for several hours to see if the mother would return, the family called rangers at South Mountain State Park. Those rangers contacted Michelle Ray, an independent licensed Wildlife Rehabilitation specialist from Lincolnton who then took Luna into her home. Ray called Grandfather’s habitat staff to see if they were interested in having another otter.
During this time, a new animal holding facility was being built at Grandfather Mountain with the organization’s effort to move closer to receiving accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Luna moved in after the building was complete in November.
The introduction process with Oconee, Santee and Nottaway began in January when the three otters were moved down from the Otter Habitat. Introducing otters is a very difficult process as they are very territorial and aggressive. This effort was not easy and was marked with successes and failures. Santee was the biggest bully towards Luna, while Nottaway eventually accepted the young otter.
“Once Nottaway established his dominance with Luna everything was fine,” said Tipton. “After the troubles with Santee we decided to wait on introducing Luna and Oconee.”
Luna and Nottaway were moved up to the Otter Habitat on Monday. Luna seems to be enjoying her new home and is very inquisitive about everything whether it be human voices nearby or the sounds of next door neighbor Morely the Golden Eagle.
Tipton and her staff plan to try another introduction with Luna and Santee months from now when Luna is a bit more mature and has fine tuned her defensive skills. The ultimate goal is for all four otters to eventually be together in the Otter Habitat but for now the staff is excited for the public to meet Luna.
“Visitors can expect to see her playing in the pond and chasing leaves,” said Tipton. “Luna really likes people and she loves playing and following Nottoway around because she’s never had an otter friend before.”
Grandfather Mountain is a 600-acre scenic attraction and nature preserve located near Linville, NC on US Highway 221, one mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 305. For more information please call 800-468-7325 or visit www.grandfather.com
