‘Very sad time': Oregon Zoo mourns death of Tilly, the river otter mom and '30 Rock' guest star
'This is a very sad time, especially for Tilly's care staff,' said Jen Osburn Eliot with the Oregon Zoo, in a statement. 'Some of our keepers were here the day she first arrived in 2009 as a tiny pup. She overcame adversity just to survive, and she helped other otters do the same.'
Parents to PPS: 'You're in pickle' over budget cuts
Tilly was found wounded by an animal attack and malnourished near Johnson Creek. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife facilitated her transfer to the Oregon Zoo, where she would later raise pups of her own and adopt other orphans.
One of Tilly's earliest tastes of fame came in 2012 when her photo was used in an . In the world of the NBC sitcom, the otter was famous for her resemblance to Tracy Morgan's character, Tracy Jordan.
Tilly proved to be such an extraordinary mother that her parenting skills alone also commanded the world's attention. Back in 2013, with her first pup, Molalla, or Mo for short. Mo's rough-and-tumble antics gained over a million views on the zoo's YouTube channel. That same year, the zoo gave Tilly the 'Mom of the Year' award.
Tilly's other pups included Ziggy, Tucker and Nellie. She was also an adoptive mom for other orphans, including Little Pudding, .
'Young river otters are extremely dependent on their mothers, and Tilly not only raised her own offspring but three other young pups who had lost their moms and needed a second chance,' Osburn Eliot said.
Portland expects 'couple thousand' May Day protesters
Tilly was 'humanely euthanized' on Wednesday due to declining health and advanced age, the Oregon Zoo said. At 16, she was considered geriatric, with the average age for her species being 12.9 years for river otters that live in AZA-accredited zoos.
Despite once being threatened due to fur trapping, river otters can today be found abundantly in healthy river systems in the Pacific Northwest.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Verge
22 minutes ago
- The Verge
YouTuber Mark Rober is getting a Netflix series
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer now known for his science-focused stunts he publishes to more than 70 million subscribers on YouTube, will launch a competition show on Netflix in 2026. Rober will also bring 'some of his most beloved, ambitious, and informative experiments to Netflix later this year,' Netflix says. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Netflix had talked to Rober. According to that article, Netflix has also had discussions with the creators at Dude Perfect, a channel with more than 60 million YouTube subscribers, about a new series. And earlier this year, Netflix brought videos from Ms. Rachel, known for her videos for toddlers and early education, to its platform. The push from Netflix into bringing on YouTube creators follows the success of MrBeast's Beast Games game show on Prime Video. That show debuted last year and quickly became Prime Video's 'most-watched unscripted show ever.' It has been renewed for two more seasons. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jay Peters Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Netflix Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Streaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All YouTube
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Single Best Idea: Stent
Tom Keene breaks down the Single Best Idea from the latest edition of Bloomberg Surveillance Radio. In this episode, we feature a conversation with Angela Stent. Watch Tom and Paul LIVE every day on YouTube:
Vogue
2 hours ago
- Vogue
Girl With the Dogs Is the Miracle Worker of Grooming
Just about every night during the Paris shows this past March, I had the same routine: Go back to the hotel, work, eat a delicious (if kind of sad) dinner from Cojean, the French Pret, that I'd stashed in the minibar earlier, work a bit more—and then, as a reward for making it through yet another day at the coalface of fashion, go to YouTube to watch Girl With the Dogs. It's a channel of videos of a Canadian woman who, in all likelihood, wouldn't tip the scales at 100 pounds wrestling with the likes of a 220-pound hirsute beast of a Caucasian Shepherd (or Ovcharka)—or an adorable Chow who defies every negative association with his breed—to groom them. (Much of Girl With the Dogs's content is an odyssey into the foibles and idiosyncrasies of breeds you'll know and those you don't—to name just one example, it's only through watching her video of Loki that I discovered the magnificent Leonberger.) There's a Chihuahua called Pablo who has breathing difficulties, or Angel—an aging rescue who needed to have one eye removed, and yet here she is, looking wonderful, looking loved, looking cared for. Girl With the Dogs is a real person, Vanessa De Prophetis, who's based in Niagara Falls, Canada, and for several years has uploaded videos at a rapacious pace (to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram) of her working with dogs (and cats) who travel to her from across both Canada and the US to be groomed. Each video takes you through the process of transforming them—simultaneously instructional and hilarious and heart-warming (or -rending)—through brushing, clipping, bathing, blow-drying, and treat-dispensing. Fans of her work know all the references—happy hoodie, murder mittens, Nasty Critter shampoo. The videos are such compulsive viewing for dog owners (or me, a wannabe dog owner) that at the Met Gala one year I ended up telling known canine lover Demi Moore all about them. De Prophetis doesn't charge anyone for her time—the quid pro quo is that the dogs' caretakers allow her to film, and then post, their beloved pet being transformed. It's that simple—and, at the same time, not.
