The title of this blog might sound rather boring but when you add two very cute baby otters running wildly through the CLAWS kitchen to jump into their green turtle shaped kiddy pool it gets more exciting! Splashing and tumbling in the water to get the best pool toys first, Hansel and Gretel are quite the tag team! Hansel manages to get that best pool toy (which happens to be a bottle cap!) before his sister has a chance! Gretel jumps on his back trying to wrestle ALL the toys from Hansel and water drenches the floor AND our feet. Hansel refuses to lose his cap so he grabs it in his mouth and jumps out of the pool to run for the safety of the corner of the kitchen where his human mom (Mrs. Claws) sits watching. The floor has been covered with at least a dozen or so towels for them to slither on to dry off however Mrs. Claws’ jeans are preferable at the moment! The two lose interest in the bottle cap only to tumble around on the towels, scoot and slither to dry off a bit more before chasing each other back into the pool to start all over again!! This is just a small window into life at CLAWS where laundry is not a weekly task but a daily one that the two baby otters have upped by 1.5 loads/day all by themselves!
When doing my research on how much it costs to do laundry (detergent- TIDE with bleach, water, electricity for both washer and dryer) I found this really neat website for calculating costs http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html If you ONLY count laundry for the two baby otters (averaging ~11 loads of laundry per week) CLAWS pays approximately $83 a month for ONLY the otter babies!!!! Again, that does NOT include the many other rehab babies being raised at CLAWS OR the permanent educational animals that live with CLAWS. Hence my blog!
When thinking of CLAWS expenses the ones that immediately come to mind are things like food- (formula & solids) as well as medical care. Surely these are the first and most expensive part of saving these wonderful animals in need, but there are day to day expenses that we the general public, volunteers and fans rarely think of….like the expense of feeding utensils (baby bottles and nipples- the otter babies do not suck, they chew!!), paper towels, dish detergent, electricity and LAUNDRY all add up quickly in the monthly budget!! So the next time you are grumbling about doing laundry (something I personally grumble about often!) think about CLAWS! AND if you are like me and you don’t want to DO their laundry, think about donating some TIDE with bleach and maybe sending them a little extra cash this month towards baby otter laundry!! Remember, all donations go straight towards the care of the animals. No one at CLAWS is paid. And to reward you for reading my “dirty laundry” blog, check out these adorable baby otter pool photos!! Thank you CLAWS for all you do for wildlife!
