Zoo staff in the US have trained a rescued 9-year-old otter, Juno, how to play basketball several years ago in order to exercise her elbow joints and ease her arthritis.
“Juno loves to play basketball,” said Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey, Oregon Zoo’s senior marine life keeper. “She gets so excited whenever we bring the ball out for her training sessions. And she’s good too!”
Juno was rescued as a pup after she was orphaned off the coast of California. She was brought to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s rescue and care program for rehabilitation. Unable to be paired with a surrogate mum, she was deemed non-releasable by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.