Otter trust opens specialist rehabilitation centre

An otter charity in north Devon says it now has the largest specialist rehabilitation centre in the world, after it was evicted from its previous site in September 2025.

It was a race against time for the UK Wild Otter Trust, which had just six months to pack up and rebuild a brand new centre.

Sixteen otter cubs currently reside at the new four acre site near South Molton, although it has capacity to care for 60 cubs. The group, which has been running since 2006 said it had helped more than 400 cubs in the past 10 years.

Dave Webb, the founder of the UK Wild Otter Trust, said it was "absolutely astounding" the rehabilitation centre had been built and was up and running in just 22 weeks.

He said he believed the eviction would result in the charity closing, but said it was saved by an "incredible" public response with £215,000 raised to fund the new centre.

His wife, Kath Webb, said: "Several times I was in tears. We'd get a phone call and somebody would say 'we'd like to give you £20,000'. It was a hell of a response."

The couple said friends and volunteers jumped into action to get the new site ready and described it as being like a "military operation".

Dave Webb said the centre had 27 outdoor enclosures, eight indoor enclosures, a cub hospital and a separate isolation unit.

He said: "We've used a bit under four miles of wood, a little under five miles of mesh wire and just shy of 17,000 staples to put the wire up."

A rewilding area has also been created on the site with 1,600 new trees planted.

The charity founder believes the charity is now "stronger, better and bigger" as a result of the move.

The charity cares for the cubs for a year before releasing them back in to the wild.

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