Buckfast Butterflies & Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary

This is a specialist otter park next to a preserved steam railway. In the entrance are, there are televisions showing what is going on in the otter holts, plus gifts for sale. You then go through to the butterfly greenhouse where huge, beautiful butterflies and small birds fly free. To one side is the door through to the otters.

This park is very compact, but packs a lot into a small area, whilst still having roomy otter pens. There are several small-claw pairs, but their very old male, Jack, who was waited on paw and whisker, died in 2003, a month short of his 22nd birthday. The small-claws are quite tame with the owners of the park, who go into their enclosures and hand-feed them.  Rosie and Jim are around 10, and Jim's sister Saffron, whose mate Basil recently died at 18, now has a young male, Paprika, as a companion and, they hope, mate.

There are several covered ways, raised viewing walks, and large underwater viewing windows through which you can watch otters swimming. The holts have inclined mirrors set above them, so you can see into the holt without the otters being aware of it.

The male North American River Otter, Toronto, is a magnificent animal, and during the breeding season is very dominant - no one goes into the pen at this time. He has fathered several litters of cubs by two females, Bubble and Ontario - he is five years younger than Ontario so he is her toy boy!

Hamish and Imogen, the Eurasian Otters, have to contend with a frequent intruder - a wild female native otter from the nearby River Dart breaks in regularly, throwing them out of their usual holt and stealing their breakfast. She has even been known to smuggle her cubs in. Freedom obviously has fewer attractions than a full belly, a warm bed and safety from predators!

The otters are fed five times a day, and take whatever they fancy from the range of food presented. All the Short-Claws are hand-fed and played with by the joint owners and the  keeper, and the animals jump up on their shoulders and play fight.  Although the otters are quite podgy, they are very active, and this park regularly has otters living to over 15.  .

I liked this park, and was able to speak with the owners, who were friendly and helpful, and clearly love their otters. There is plenty of parking and the railway centre has facilities such as a cafe. It is sited just off the A38, about halfway (20 miles) between Exeter and Plymouth, near the Little Chef and Buckfast Abbey.

I last visited this park on Sunday 4th July 2004.