Caretaker of Guyana's water dogs: deep in the savanna, a passionate protector of these endangered river otters is rehabilitating them for release into the wild.

• Author: Hardman, Chris

It's nearly eleven in the morning, and the sun is already scorching the and earth of Karanambu Ranch. The birds have stopped singing, and the breeze has died down. It's the dry season in the Rupununi, a vast savanna located near Guyana's Brazilian border.

Suddenly the CB radio crackles, and a young female voice calls, "Masara, Karanambu, Masara, Karanambu." She is frantic; her boyfriend has brought her two wild baby river otters as a gift, and she doesn't know what to do with them. Fortunately she knows whom to call.

Karanambu is home to Diane McTurk, the only person in the world who has successfully reintroduced giant river otters into the wild. McTurk asks, "Are they drinking milk? Are they eating fish? Do you want me to come and get them?" The entire staff of the ranch goes into high gear to prepare for the arrival of the otters, while McTurk prepares for the three-hour round trip boat ride to pick them up.

Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) are one of the most endangered animals on earth. Demand for their velvety fur has eliminated them from throughout most of their range in South America. At six feet long and fifty to sixty pounds, they are the largest of the world's thirteen otter species. In Guyana, they are fondly referred to as "water dogs"--probably because, like dogs, they live in family groups and engage in noisy play. in Peru they are called lobes del rio, and in Suriname they are called watradagoe. In spite of their similarities, river otters are not related to dogs at all. They are a member of the weasel family, which includes skunks and tayras. They are equally at home on land or in water, and they can travel long distances either way. Their webbed paws and flat tails make them strong swimmers and formidable predators.

McTurk fell into her role as river otter mother entirely by chance. In 1985 a friend gave her a baby otter as a gift. "I love all animals, and therefore I was absolutely delighted to have him," McTurk recalls. "That got me more interested in what was the status of these animals, because we hadn't seen many of them around recently."

Born and raised in Guyana, McTurk, seventy-one, is the second generation of her family to live at Karanambu. She has been running the ranch since 1978, when she took over for her brother. She remembers when she used to see giant river otters often.

"I found out riley were still being hunted for their pelts to supply a leather-craft trade in Brazil," she says. "Then I found that there really were abandoned otters, little otters, that had been lost in the panic of parents being killed. So I put out the word for anyone who found these abandoned otters to please come and bring them to me."

McTurk says she had no idea how to Lake care of her first otter, and he was very lucky to survive. Because the milk silo fed him disagreed with him, the otter became quite ill. Their site remembered teal as a child site was allergic to milk and...