When Leslie Greene, a licensed wildlife rehabber and owner of River Bandit Wildlife Rescue, heard about an orphaned baby otter, she was heartbroken. The otter’s entire family had been killed, leaving the little guy all alone. He needed somewhere to go, and without thinking twice, Greene stepped up.

“Transportation was arranged and I drove to Shreveport, LA, (about 2.5 hours from my rescue) and picked up Ozzy,” Greene told The Dodo. “He was extremely scared and tried to hide under a blanket. This is very unusual for otters. Otters are very social and playful animals even in the wild. He had been through a great deal and was showing signs of stress.”

Little Ozzy was only 5 weeks old and so confused. He wanted love but didn’t trust anyone to give it to him after what happened to his family. He kept trying to bite Greene while at the same time crying out for someone to love him. Greene knew his recovery would take time, and she was more than prepared to be patient with him.

“When I first got him back to the rescue, I sat for hours and calmly talked to him and tried to gain his trust,” Greene said. “At that time he had to be bottle-fed and he tried to bite me several times. I took it slow with him, and finally he began to trust me and allowed me to handle him.”

As time went on, Ozzy realized his rescuer was there to keep him safe, and he soon learned to trust her. The baby otter is now 10 weeks old, and he’s absolutely thriving.

“[He] is a healthy, happy little boy,” Greene said. “He wakes up playing and goes to bed playing. He is very social and loves to play in his ball pit we made for him.”

Ozzy will stay with River Bandit Wildlife Rescue until he’s a year old, and then he’ll be released back into the wild. In the meantime, he’s healing from his ordeal and loving life, thanks to his rescuer and her love and patience.

If you’d like to help Ozzy, you can donate to River Bandit Wildlife Rescue.