AN orphaned otter cub which cheated death on a busy main road then sneaked out of his enclosure on moonlight excursions has been dubbed Harry, after the American escapologist Houdini.

Staff at Paradise Park have been caring for the six-month-old European male since he was rescued from traffic on Hayle Causeway two weeks ago after being spotted by a passing motorist.

The youngster had been reluctant to leave its dead mother after she was apparently struck by a vehicle.

And Harry would almost certainly have met the same fate – had one passing motorist not been a sharp-eyed vet driving home from work.

Sam Lawley, 36, said: "It was sort of hunched up and as I went over with a torch a baby appeared and started pawing at the adult and running around it.

"They won't leave an injured animal so I scooped it up in a blanket – he was a bit wriggly at first but he calmed down and went really still."

The next morning Sam took the cub to nearby Paradise Park, which keeps North American and Asian short-clawed species.

Harry was placed in a spare pen and given some fish.

The next day, curator David Woolcock was alarmed to find he had disappeared. When another otter was found dead on a nearby road, keepers' hearts sank, but David said: "As it turned out our little otter had been doing a very good job of hiding away in the enclosure.

"He had been getting through a water drainage pipe, exploring next door then coming back for food." It is thought the dead cub was probably Harry's twin, who had also become stranded.

The youngster will go to an otter sanctuary in the New Forest where he will associate with other animals before eventually being released back into the wild, hopefully in Cornwall.