| Update July 2005 |
| Fingal and Sula have started the initial stages of their training, taking to it well and enjoying the extra interaction with the animal care team. The training programme’s aim is to enable the care staff to handle and examine the otters to aid any veterinary treatment without resorting to anaesthesia. To achieve this, the animals are taught words that indicate an area of the enclosure where they are to stand and in return they will receive a set reward (food). As the otters master this training they will then progress on to more specific tasks that will assist examination. | 
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 | Both Sula and Fingal are fat and happy and are now freshly moulted with shiny new coats. They are enjoying all the lush growth of the enclosure and they recently celebrated their fourth birthday in May 2005. |
| A chance visit from an injured seagull tested Sula’s hunting skills. The poor bird had a fishing hook round its leg and a damaged beak. The lesser black backed gull happened to land within the enclosure and prompted an exciting chase with Sula quickly assuming all her wild instincts of prowling and pouncing. Luckily the animal care team managed to catch it before Sula. However, Fingal showed little interest, either he has lost the instinctive hunter behaviour or (more likely) he was just being a lazy boy! |