How Billy met Molly - the orphaned otter who is now part of the family

The lives of Billy and Susan Mail changed everlastingly erstwhile a starving otter cub showed up astatine their doorstep.

It was 3 March 2021 erstwhile Billy noticed the emaciated animal, who helium aboriginal named Molly, cracking crabs adjacent his location successful Shetland.

Billy says nurturing the cub backmost to wellness made him rediscover the joyousness helium had mislaid pursuing the caller decease of his parents.

And it inspired wildlife filmmaker Charlie Hamilton-James to crook their improbable relationship into an award-winning documentary.

It each began erstwhile 57-year-old Billy was sitting successful his location and spotted the cub diving disconnected the adjacent pontoon.

"Curiosity got the amended of maine and I decided to spot however adjacent I could get to it," helium says.

Billy knew thing wasn't close erstwhile the usually timid carnal sat adjacent to him to devour her prey.

"She stopped eating, looked maine close successful the eye, and past went backmost to it," helium says.

"I thought 'that's not right, a chaotic otter should've tally distant astatine that point'."

Billy knew a pistillate otter had been recovered dormant successful the country recently, truthful helium assumed the cub was her orphan.

"She was truly bladed and emaciated, but she wasn't unhealthy - she was conscionable hungry," helium says.

A section wildlife sanctuary advised him that feeding the carnal was allowed arsenic agelong arsenic helium didn't domesticate her.

After obtaining the stamp of support from his woman Susan, Molly the otter became portion of the Mail family.

The mates accidental Molly came to their beingness astatine a truly bully time.

They had precocious moved backmost to Shetland, wherever Billy was primitively from, not agelong aft helium had mislaid some of his parents successful a abbreviated span of time.

On apical of that, the coronavirus pandemic deed conscionable arsenic they started gathering a caller hold to their home.

Molly's accomplishment was "a enactment of caller air" for some of them.

"There was a batch of worldly happening astatine the clip and Molly turned up close successful the mediate of that," says Billy.

"She was a beauteous distraction."

Airport manager Susan, 59, says she noticed a alteration successful her husband's mood.

"Watching what helium got backmost from helping an carnal who needed it was incredibly emotive and touching," she said.

But Susan says she had a rocky commencement with Molly, with the cub rolling successful her works pots and chasing her into the shed erstwhile Billy wasn't around.

She says she was a spot acrophobic due to the fact that she had ne'er interacted with a chaotic carnal before.

"The much I watched and learned, the much I saw that she wasn't assertive astatine all." Susan said.

Despite learning however to co-exist with Molly, Susan often recovered herself being "bad cop" successful the relationship.

One day, she recovered a bundle with dozens of coloured integrative balls addressed to Billy.

She said: "I thought 'no chance, he's not bought these for her' - and helium had."

A fewer minutes later, Molly was kicking astir successful her ain mini shot pool.

This was Billy's effort to simulate play clip - thing Molly would walk astir of her time doing with different otters if she grew up successful the wild.

Susan aboriginal recovered retired the excavation was conscionable the beginning.

Instead of moving connected their long-overdue extension, Billy built a miniature croft location for the otter, equipped with a camera, wi-fi and a acceptable of Mail household photos.

It didn't instrumentality agelong for others to announcement Billy's caller friend.

Filmmaker Charlie Hamilton-James, who had been regularly visiting Shetland since helium was a teenager, recovered retired astir Molly and arranged to conscionable the couple.

"I ne'er knew who Charlie was," Billy says. "But it turns retired helium was 1 of National Geographic's apical photographers."

He approached the mates with an thought to crook their antithetic communicative into a film.

"I said 'no chance', but past we thought 'you cognize what, beingness is excessively short, let's spell for it'," says Billy.

Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story premiered successful March astatine the festival South by Southwest successful Texas.

Susan says seeing the last chopped made her cry.

"My household accidental I'm the pistillate with the bosom of stone, but I recovered it precise emotional."

Since then, the movie has won an grant astatine Bristol's Wildscreen Festival and is nominated successful respective categories astatine the prestigious American Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

The mates accidental they ever knew that, nary substance however cute and affable she was, Molly was a chaotic animal.

After months of spending each time with her, Billy decided to halt feeding the cub, giving her plentifulness of clip to larn however to fend for herself earlier the winter.

"He knew erstwhile it was the close clip to fto her go," Susan says.

Molly's visits became much and much scarce until they stopped altogether.

Not knowing what had happened to her, Billy spent weeks worrying astir the anticipation of her dying successful the harsh wintertime that had deed Shetland successful 2022.

On 1 snowy night, the camera successful Molly's croft-house automatically switched on, alerting the mates determination was a visitant inside.

She was back, and she wasn't alone.

"We were truly blessed to spot she was inactive alive, inactive thriving and successful a truly bully condition. The bonus was that she was pregnant," says Billy.

Molly gave commencement to her ain cub successful "her house", and the 2 of them are inactive regular visitors to the Mails' garden.

"The 1 happening Molly taught maine was compassion," says Susan.

She besides brought caller joyousness to Billy's beingness by making him autumn successful emotion with quality again - thing helium had forgotten a agelong clip ago.

"To instrumentality this otter that was cute and cuddly, but successful hopeless request of help, and to provender her and nurture her done adolescence and assistance her make into a fully-grown adult, past disconnected she went and hung retired with her ain household - observing that ellipse of beingness happening but besides being a portion of it was incredibly rewarding," helium says.

Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story is streaming connected Disney+ from 14 November, and airs connected 15 November connected the National Geographic channel.