Zoo's River Otter Pup Dies At 7 Weeks Old

BROOKFIELD, IL – Some heartbreaking news out of Brookfield Zoo. The zoo's North American river otter pup, who was born less than two months ago on Feb. 26, has died.

The zoo said in a news release that the young pup's health declined significantly over the weekend and zoo staff made the difficult decision to euthanize him because the decline in health was impacting his well-being.

Staff had been hand-rearing the young pup and giving him round-the-clock care when it was determined that his mother was not able to provide him with the proper nourishment he needed, according to the zoo.

“This was an enormously hard decision to make, but to prevent the otter from any further suffering, we determined this was the only viable course of action,” said Bill Zeigler, senior vice president of animal programs for the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo.