Emmett “Stimpy” Otter

April 1993-June 2010

By Jennifer Albero

In the first week of May 1993 word spread through the staff at the Salisbury Zoo that a baby North American River Otter had been dropped off by a local couple who had found him at their Eastern Shore of Virginia weekend home. They tried unsuccessfully to reunite him with his real family but after two days it was obvious that he was an orphan.

It was love at first sight with Emmett and I. From those first little chirps I knew he was going to be special. He had a catfish head with little beady eyes and a slinky for a body. He reminded my boys so much of Jim Henson’s puppets that he was named after Emmett Otters Jug Band Christmas show. Of course for me he will always be just “Stimpy”, named after the Ren and Stimpy cartoon mostly because the Stimpy character was trouble with a capital T.

Stimpy spent over 2 months traveling back and forth between the zoo and home to keep his bottle feeding schedule on track. If you accidentally or intentionally tried to skip a bottle or fed one late, he would let you know by angrily grabbing the nipple in his teeth and ripping it right off the bottle. Milk and wet kitten food would spray everywhere.

His favorite pastimes at home were to try and slide into the bottom shelf of the refrigerator before you could get it closed. He would come out of a dead sleep to race over for that game. He also loved to cram his plump little body into the dogs water bowl. He would have nothing sticking out of it but his head and that look of utter joy on his face as if to let me know that he had found a perfect swimming hole and look at how nicely he fit! He also tried to climb into the toilet every chance he got so we had to make a strict rule that leaving the door open to any bathroom at any time was not allowed.

He was by far the most intelligent animal I ever had the privilege of working with. By a certain chirp he made, I knew that he had to go outside to go to the bathroom. After he was done, he was ready to come back inside. He loved the Zoo’s Office Manager, Scottie Olligher. Scottie would babysit Stimpy when he was in the office hanging out between bottle feedings. Scottie was always dressed to perfection and often wore open toed shoes. Well, Stimpy loved toes in open toed shoes! In no time Scottie was forced to sit with her feet in a trashcan to keep Stimpy from attacking her toes. It worked for a few weeks but eventually zookeeper, Vic Vollkommer ended up building a barricade around her desk that we would literally have to help Scottie climb in and out of. We told Scottie during those weeks that we could move Stimpy to another building but Scottie assured us that she was fine with it all and didn’t want to miss any of his antics.

Keep in mind Stimpy was no angel. I had the cuts, bruises and scratch marks to prove it. And some staff members were delivered much more serious scars by an animal that was in no way anyone’s pet. But with all his quirks he had become a family member so much so that I often called him my fourth son. And my human sons were way cooler in their friends eyes by having a real live otter hanging out at their house that summer.

There was a period of time when Stimpy was going to leave the area to live at another zoo. However local outcry and the unforeseen tragedy of a young man’s death during a marlin fishing trip, changed those plans and Stimpy was built a new exhibit and was brought a mate named Emily. They spent years together delighting crowds with their swimming and fishing skills. And on special days when they were fed live crabs and crayfish, you would often see Stimpy pop his head out of the water with one or two crayfish dangling from his whiskers (the crayfish would be pinching and attacking his whiskers for dear life) and looking around with those little beady eyes as if to say, “did you see where those crayfish went?”

We had a lifelong bond. He never tried to attack me but instead treated me like I was family. And when my days come to an end, I hope to meet up with my old friends, Stimpy and Scottie. I expect that Scottie will still have her feet in a plastic trashcan and Stimpy will be trying his darnedest to get to her toes.

Stimpy you will be missed but remembered by many. You touched so many hearts and lives.

Farewell my son.