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WNC Nature Center names new otter Obi Wan
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4th June 2010
The Citizen-Times, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
ASHEVILLE — The force is strong with this one: Obi Wan is now the new otter at the WNC Nature Center.
The one-year old river otter who is the newest addition to the WNC Nature Center was named "Obi Wan" in a public ceremony Thursday afternoon. Aidan Cole, 6, who suggested the name that won, was given a toy river otter and a certificate. Staff narrowed down the many otter name selections and the public voted on "Obi Wan." 6/3/10- Erin Brethauer (ebrethau@citizen-times.com) (Erin Brethauer/ebrethau@citizen-times.com)
The name, which references a Jedi knight in the popular “Star Wars” films, beat out four other finalists in a popular vote.
Five hundred people suggested 200 names, which were narrowed down by nature center staff to five finalists. Four hundred people voted for Obi Wan, about 60 percent of the votes tallied.
The new name was announced Thursday afternoon at the nature center in East Asheville near Oteen.
Aidan Cole, 6, of East Asheville, submitted the winning name.
“I really like ‘Star Wars,'” Aidan simply said of his motivation.
He didn't really need to say much about his devotion to the science fiction series: He wore a T-shirt depicting “Star Wars” characters while he accepted his prize, an adopt-an-animal package from the Friends of the Nature Center.
Not unlike the otters, Aidan played on the imitation otter slide next to the otters' tank while nature center director Chris Gentile spoke about Olive and Obi Wan, who frolicked in the background.
The new name fits into the nature center's tradition of giving their otters names that begin with an “O,” Gentile said.
Obi Wan, a 1-year-old, was adopted from the Pittsburgh Zoo in February and introduced to his senior female counterpart, 5-year-old Olive, in March.
Both otters have been “human-imprinted,” lacking fear for human contact and the skills to survive making them unable to be released into the wild.
The nature center started looking for a new mate for Olive after the nature center's former male otter, Oscar, died unexpectedly in December 2008 from a stomach blockage.