WATCH: Rescued baby otter gets a new friend, home

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Earlier this month, Oregon State Police delivered an unlikely patient to Wildlife Images outside of Grants Pass: a female North American river otter.

The otter pup was originally found near a construction site in Gold Beach. According to the rehabilitation center's report, multiple attempts were made to find the mother before the otter was brought in to the clinic for care. She was estimated to be about six weeks old at the time of her rescue, and in relatively good health as well.

Wildlife Images says rehabilitation and release into the wild is always the ultimate goal for all native wildlife who come to the clinic for care. "However, rehabilitating otters takes specific requirements and is done most successfully with other otters of similar age," reports the non-profit organization.

"To prepare an animal for release we want to make sure that it will be successful in the wild; the last thing any rehabber wants to do is send an ill-equipped animal out to fend for itself. In some circumstances the best and most humane answer is to place that animal in human care” said Cory Alvis-Allen, Animal Care and Education Team Leader at Wildlife Images.

The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, the clinic's permitting agency, ultimately concluded that a rehab-and-release would not be successful. So, staff at Wildlife Images started looking for a permanent home for the otter pup. That's when the Oregon Zoo came into the picture.

The zoo has a resident otter named Tilly, and just received a male otter pup only two weeks younger than the Gold Beach pup.

The second, male otter pup was found near a golf course in McMinnville. He was rehabilitated for a respiratory infection at Turtle Ridge Wildlife Center near Salem, before being rehomed at the Oregon Zoo.

Here is a video of the two otters meeting for the first time:

“Our preference for them would have been rehab and release,” said Amy Cutting, who oversees the Oregon Zoo’s Great Northwest area. “However, wildlife officials said that was not possible so we’re happy we could give them a second chance. We have a good track record with orphaned otters. Our adult otter, Tilly, was also rescued as a pup, and she’s helped raise orphans as well.”

No word yet on what the otters will be named now that they have both found a new home.