{"id":631743,"date":"2026-04-27T11:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631743\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:13:18","slug":"otterly-adorable-river-otter-pups-found-hidden-under-richmond-shed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631743\/","title":{"rendered":"Otterly adorable: River otter pups found hidden under Richmond shed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Chances are, at some point, everyone encounters a not-so-welcome visitor in or around their home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps a destructive squirrel in the attic, a smelly skunk under the porch or a raccoon absolutely destroying garbage bins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent call to Richmond, B.C.\u2019s Steveston neighbourhood was otterly unheard of.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alex Ritz, owner of Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, had to find and relocate a trio of otter pups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a one-of-a-kind [call] so far for me,\u201d he told CBC\u2019s On The Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOtters are a bit of a rarity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AAlex Ritz holds three otter pups found on a residential property in Richmond’s Steveston neighbourhood. (Submitted by Alex Ritz)<\/p>\n

The home was located out by the Steveston wharf \u2014 where otters are sometimes seen looking for a meal, as fishing boats bring in fresh fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Typically, if an otter is in your midst, you\u2019d see signs of digging, Ritz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, the homeowners actually did see the otter kind of running around for a few nights,\u201d he said. It was carrying nesting material and repeatedly disappearing behind the shed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A wildlife expert went to check things out, and saw the tell-tale signs.<\/p>\n

They made some noise in the shed and heard a rustling, and guessed a family of otters was living under the structure of the shed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ritz arrived the following day to look around and figure out how to get the otters out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fortunately, he said, the pups were home alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"threeFinding and relocating otters was a ‘one-of-a-kind call’ for Alex Ritz and his team at Skedaddle Human Wildlife Control. (Submitted by Alex Ritz)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a little bit lucky in that we didn’t have to try to scare her out to look for the babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

But finding them wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had decided to kind of push them in all the way to the other side of the shed from where the hole was,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was being a little tricky with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritz\u2019s team started digging a one-foot trench, and put up a wildlife-proof steel wire to prevent the otter from digging through in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was during the digging that they discovered a nest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit more moist under there,\u201d Ritz zaid. \u201cSo lo and behold, I kind of reach in and grab some of the nesting material and I finally see the babies there. There’s three baby otters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AAlex Ritz and his team at Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control found three otter pups under a shed in Steveston. (Submitted by Alex Ritz)<\/p>\n

He pulled the pups out and put them in a heated box, under a tarp to shade them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[The box had] a flap door and everything so [the mother] can get in there and take them on her own terms,\u201d Ritz said.<\/p>\n

The company then put in preventative screening along the bottom of the shed so the otter family couldn’t get back in. <\/p>\n

Later that night, the homeowners told Ritz the mother otter had come and taken her pups away one by one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AnThe river otter mother is pictured carrying one of her babies away. (Submitted by Alex Ritz)<\/p>\n

Trites said river otters, while cute, can be messy. Boat owners have raised concerns about otters getting onboard their vessels and making a mess with food scraps and feces, Trites said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are super messy eaters. If you ever come in after a river otter party, they just left it in shambles,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, they\u2019re kind of smelly, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do have otters present, you smell them before you see them. It\u2019s a very pungent odour, it\u2019s a musky, strong odour, which is the way they mark their territories,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, Trites said, their presence in the area is a sign the surrounding environment is in good shape.<\/p>\n

If someone thinks they have otters on their property, he suggests leaving them alone, if possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re recently born, it\u2019s a death sentence if you\u2019re going to remove them,\u201d Trites said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are living in their habitat and they are taking advantage of structures that are going to be safe for them to give birth.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they get older, he said homeowners should seal up the area where otters are getting in to ensure they don\u2019t cause problems in the future. <\/p>\n

LISTEN | Alex Ritz details otter family removal:<\/p>\n

On The Coast7:53Wildlife control worker removes family of otters from Richmond home<\/p>\n

Alex Ritz, the owner and operator of the Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control franchise in Vancouver, joins host Gloria Macarenko for a conversation about his recent experience removing a family of otters from under a shed at a Richmond home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-631743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}