Pat’s Wildways: Crabby birthday celebration

It has been a while since I visited Jonathan Howard at his Otter Space Wildlife Center in Hilliard and I know a lot has happened there since my last visit. I called him first, as usual, and stopped to pick up some live blue crabs from Lofton Creek Seafood to bring to his three otters. It was going to be an especially interesting visit this time, since he was doing a trial run of his new plan to offer birthday parties and other events at the sanctuary.

When I pulled up from the dirt road that leads to his facility, the birthday party was already in session. The kids and their parents were divided into two groups, each entering large pens with diminutive muntjac deer in one and goats in another. While I watched, kids had supervised petting sessions with the animals, and in the goat pen, they got involved in pulling down branches of small trees to let the goats eat the leaves that were out of their reach. It looked to me like the goats and deer had as much fun with this visit as the kids did.

When I showed up with the live crabs the entire group gathered at the North American river otter enclosure to watch the action. The otter exhibit is larger than that in most zoos, and includes both a large land area with a small pond and a deep pool with windows so the otters’ underwater moves can be easily watched. And when the bag of live crabs was emptied into the pool, their antics accelerated. The kids squealed in excitement as they watched the otters chase the live crabs, cornered them in front of the windows and dragged their catches out to a platform where they could crunch them to their heart’s content. “The Hunger Games for otters!” one kid yelled. It was difficult to tell if the kids or the otters had more fun. At any rate, it was a real hit!

Afterwards the birthday group was settled down near a picnic area, complete with a hand-washing station and a serving and barbeque area where a lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs was provided. Once the children were seated in a half circle, another activity commenced. Tori and Lizz, two Otter Space volunteers, brought out animals individually to be petted safely by the children as they told them about the conservation issues regarding these species. Orion, the opossum, was blind after having fallen into a can of paint as a youngster, and was very calm when handled by his keepers and petted by the kids. Afterwards Cosmo the young (de-scented) skunk from a fur farm was similarly introduced to the kids and seemed to enjoy the petting too.

There are lots of other animals housed at Otter Space and the birthday group got the chance to safely view foxes, bobcats, raccoons, deer, nutria, and many other species that are here in this sanctuary for the rest of their lives because, for one reason or another — injuries, sickness, imprinting on people, etc. — they cannot be released to the wild. All the animals here are healthy, with veterinary care as needed, good diets and enclosures that give them as many opportunities as possible to dig and climb and swim, and other natural behaviors that keep them active and engaged. Although they are mostly unseen in back acreage of the facility, there are now 94 foxes that have been rescued from a fur farm, with 75 more expected soon.

Otter Space is an amazing place, totally supported by donations, and from Jonathan’s own pocket and any contributions of money, supplies or volunteer time is much appreciated. This birthday trial run was a resounding success and soon details of how to arrange your own event will be published on their website and Facebook page, providing another source of income, and most importantly a chance for people to get to know more about animals and their conservation.

After all the hubbub watching the otters eating blue crabs, I got a hankering for some myself. My friend Betty and I drove the long way home from Hilliard via Kingsland, where I knew just how to fulfil my craving. I called M&A’s Seafood Market ahead and by the time we got there, Gio and Keona had six blue crabs for me, freshly steamed and cleaned.

At home I settled on my back desk with a bunch of crabs to crack and a day to ruminate upon. It was a great day by all accounts. And my private crab feast made it perfect!

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. Patandbucko@yahoo.com