BEND, OR -- The High Desert Museum has announced the name of its newest river otter. Wesley is a 10-month-old pup who has been at the Museum since May after he was found abandoned near Sunriver. He's adapting to his new surroundings according to Wildlife Curator Jon Nelson, “We started letting him in the exhibit in September. At that point I still wasn’t letting him spend the night with the other two adult otters. It took a while for that to start happening. But they get along great now. When you come, you’ll see him playing with the other two. There’s a lot of social grooming.” Nelson tells KBND News the once-malnourished pup is now thriving, and learning from the other two otters, “There was a little bit of establishing boundaries with the adults when he first went in. So, he didn’t have any matters when we threw him in there. It took awhile for him to learn that. But the other two were good mentors. He’s gotten a lot better.” Nelson says early on the young pup wore out the adults, “I would have to make sure they got a little bit of time without the baby otter to take a nap. Now, he’s pretty good about it. When they’re off sleeping, he’ll just stay out and play. He does a lot of swimming. He’s very engaging for our visitors. Spends a lot of time swimming in the underwater windows playing with kids.”

Wesley was named by a family who provided the winning bid for naming rights at a fundraising auction last summer. 

You can watch all three otters play at the museum’s 1 pm daily Otter Encounter.