Man’s bond with orphaned otter becomes a movie hit

The couple say they always knew that, no matter how cute and friendly she was, Molly was a wild animal.

After months of spending every day with her, Billy decided to stop feeding the cub, giving her plenty of time to learn how to fend for herself before the winter.

“He knew when it was the right time to let her go,” Susan says.

Molly’s visits became more and more scarce until they stopped altogether.

Not knowing what had happened to her, Billy spent weeks worrying about the possibility of her dying in the harsh winter that had hit Shetland in 2022.

On one snowy night, the camera in Molly’s croft-house automatically switched on, alerting the couple there was a visitor inside.

She was back, and she wasn’t alone.

“We were really happy to see she was still alive, still thriving and in a really good condition. The bonus was that she was pregnant,” says Billy.

Molly gave birth to her own cub in “her house”, and the two of them are still regular visitors to the Mails’ garden.