Senior waits for his friend to crawl out and meet him every day – now others are visiting too
Back in 2011, a Finnish man named Seppa Laamanen made an unusual friend.
But it was a friendship born of desperation.
Asking for a favor
That winter, a wild sea otter was having a hard time finding enough food. That’s when he approached a human – 65-year-old Laamanen – for help.
The man gave him some worms and fish and named him Iivari.
And while it’s not normally wise to feed wild animals, it’s hard to watch them starve.
Once he realized Laamanen would feed him when needed, Iivari would come to him when he wanted a snack. That’s how the two struck up a friendship, so to speak.
Best buds
Iivari is entirely trusting of his human buddy now, and will even come inside briefly to get his fish.
Of course, once people heard about a friendly otter, tourists would stop by and try to befriend the animal too. But he’s having none of it. Iivari doesn’t need human friends. He picked his person – and it’s Laamanen.
Frankly, it’s unwise for anyone to try to get a wild animal to become dependent on more humans. It’s a shame that people don’t consider that before they go trying to befriend wild animals.
But it’s different for Laamanen.
The creature will even take commands from him! He’s appropriately afraid of everyone else.
Viral, but in solitude
Between Facebook and YouTube, millions of people have seen the video of the pair of pals. But they’re not super keen on the tourists they’ve drawn to Punkaharju, Finland as a result, so don’t expect to hang out with them.
Even when the otter does come in the house to get his fish, he still prefers to eat it outside alone.
And that’s a good thing. Wild animals shouldn’t be made into pets because it prevents them from being able to care for themselves properly in the wild.
Of course, that’s led some commenters to question whether these two really have a “relationship” at all. And that’s fair. Many of the stories about this pair claim an “inseparable friendship.” But the otter is in it for the food.
“Sorry but all I saw in this video was the otter grabbing food and running away. Thats hardly an ‘inseperable relationship!'” said one viewer.
And from what we can see, Laamanen doesn’t actually rely on an otter for friendship. Nor should he!
Just a few commenters understood why it’s not always a good idea to invite wild animals to get comfortable:
“I like the video and its cute but the thing is if this otter gets used to the regular food he will cease to be an independent hunter, and after the human leaves, he won’t be able to take care of itself or to teach its offsprings how to hunt properly. So its cute, but it may be very harmful in the long run.”
But there were people who disagreed in the strangest ways:
“I disagree it is not different than a bird feeder in your yard he is giving him some food not causing him to only eat from him so much better than letting him starve or put him in a cage when he was hungry and in poor health.”
Apparently, people don’t quite understand that birds can also come to rely on birdseed in a way that can be unhealthy for them.
We certainly don’t begrudge this otter his snack or a friendly man a visit from a frozen friend. And it looks like these two have come to an agreement about what they need from each other.
Be sure to scroll down below to see some footage of Iivari.
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