CPR, Whistled Lullabies Help Rescuers Save Baby Otter

Thought Question: What's something, or someone, you'd go out of your way to help?

Gordon Mellish of Alert Bay, British Columbia, may be the only person in the world who can say he’s given CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to a baby river otter.

“Gave the heart a little pump and nothing was going on, so I grabbed it and picked it up,” Mellish told CTV News. “I wrapped my mouth around its mouth and nose and gave it a breath of life.”

Mellish is a retired logger and fisherman. He is no stranger to using the lifesaving technique of CPR. He’s had to apply it to humans 10 times over his career. Yet applying the steps to a tiny creature no larger than a sock presented a unique challenge. It also wasn’t the first Mellish had to overcome to rescue the otter pup.

Mellish's family first discovered the problem. “There were three otters in the water, wrapped in a fishing net,” Mellish told CTV. “The third was wrapped so bad — it was motionless and his head was hanging in the water.”

Once Mellish managed to revive the baby otter, he handed it to Robin Quirk. She is a wildlife rescue worker who also happened to be at the marina that day. She took care of the baby overnight. Then she drove it to a wild animal rescue shelter the next morning. On the journey, she whistled to the otter to keep it calm.

After a week of rehabilitation, the baby made a full recovery. Quirk and Mellish volunteered to release it back into the marina waters. Videos of the baby swimming with its siblings and mother soon surfaced on social media.

“Oh man! We did it!” Quirk recalled thinking. “We reunited the family!”

Mellish says he has no doubt he did the right thing. “A life’s a life no matter what it is,” he told CTV. “Try to do your best to save it.”   

Gif of an otter from Giphy.