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Meet Splash the cadaver-finding otter [1]

['Gail Sherman']

Date: 2025-11-25  

Asian small-clawed otters are arguably the cutest otters, which is saying a lot, considering the competition. One of these adorable mustelids is training to help law enforcement search for missing persons in water too murky for humans to see.

Splash the otter is often described as a "search and rescue" otter, but the truth is a little more grim. While search is accurate, Splash is not there to rescue; he is there to locate remains. Bodies dumped in Florida's swamps and lakes can be difficult, if not impossible, for a human searcher to find, leaving crimes unsolved and families without closure. But now Splash is on the case.

Michael Hadsel trains search and rescue dogs, and is likely the only search otter trainer in the world. Otters are smart, curious, and food-motivated, like dogs, making them ideal students. Otters smell underwater using a technique that is also kind of adorable. They blow bubbles at the location they want to check out, and quickly breathe the air back in. Hadsel told Outside Magazine how Splash alerts him when he finds something.

He'll bump the ball with his nose or grab my mask, and I give him a piece of salmon," Hadsel says. "It has to be farm-raised salmon. He won't eat wild salmon."

Splash has found four bodies on the 20 search missions he has worked so far, which, all things considered, seems like a decent percentage.

Previously:

• Nothing's cuter than Mr. Chow the otter, post-bath, wrapped in a towel burrito

• Otters and orangutans being animal friends

• Why do otters juggle?

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/11/25/meet-splash-the-cadaver-finding-otter.html

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