An injured cub on OtterCam

I feared the worst at one stage but this may not turn out as badly as I thought.  The smallest cub, presumably female, was limping badly two weeks ago with an injury to its right back leg or foot. In the first video you can see it lagging behind the others, wanting to join in the play fight and then getting upset when it all got a bit boisterous and one of them presumably trod on its poorly foot.

Two days later the cub appeared on the cameras on its own and could barely drag itself up the bank - a video distressing to watch that I won't post here.  I thought if it didn't manage to rejoin the mother and the others and couldn't catch its own food it probably wouldn't survive.  Later that night there was a video of mother with the two fit cubs and no sign of the third.

Since then, however, it has rejoined mother and at least one of the others on the videos and seems to be managing, although it is still limping badly.  Here is the cub with mother and one of the others.  The first camera was very fogged up.

And then something I have never seen before.  Otter cubs are weaned by 14 weeks of age and these three are now seven months old and yet mother was letting the injured cub suckle. Perhaps she senses the cub's distress and this was for comfort rather than sustenance.

Some good news is that the dog otter has made a fairly good recovery from his leg injury although it has taken two months.  Let's hope the cub does the same.