
An animal advocacy group is offering a $1,000 reward to help identify the person responsible for snaring a river otter in West Vancouver, leaving the creature suffering for days.
The adult female otter was found injured near Ambleside Pier on Sunday.
Laurie Simington and Lorrie Cole rescued the animal. The pair operate SNAPPS (Squamish Neighbourhood Animal Partnership and Protection Society).
Wire was seen cutting into the flesh on the otter's neck, and the group believes it had been suffering for up to two weeks.
"The pain she must have endured is unfathomable," Fur-Bearers executive director Lesley Fox said in a news release. "There is absolutely no reason that such agony should be endured."
The animal is being treated with antibiotics and is eating, and the Fur-Bearers said there is a chance the animal will eventually be able to be released back into the wild.
It's possible the wire was being used for a legal, legitimate purpose, "by all accounts it looks and acts like a snare used out of season," Fox added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the B.C. Conservation Officers Service.
-with files from CTV Vancouver