Have you seen a rakali?
Chances are if you have been near a waterway in Australia, you could have been near a rakali and not even known it.
Commonly known as water rats, a push was made in the 1990s to change the name to rakali to try to give the native animal's reputation a makeover.
Cory Young is a wildlife carer who has come to love the rakali and wants to raise awareness of the shy creatures.
"Everyone loves otters, you see all these videos shared on Facebook and social media," he told Helen Shield on ABC Radio Hobart.
"We're lucky, we have an otter here, it's just named a rat."
Mr Young first met a rakali while working at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, north of Hobart.
"He was found in the reception of one of the hotels on the waterfront and was a little bit sick," he said.
"I don't know if he'd eaten some bad food or someone had poisoned it."
The male rakali was rehabilitated and released back into the wild.
Rakali can live in fresh or salt water and are found throughout the eastern states and in pockets in WA and the NT.
As a native species they are now protected, but were once hunted for their thick fur.
They are a rodent and are commonly confused with introduced rat species and still thought of as a pest by some.
"A lot of people who own boats, fishermen, have issues with them," Mr Young said.
"They love to feed on a little platform, so people's moored yachts and boats seem to make an ideal spot for them to eat their food.
"They are a wholly protected species as well, [but] people often have the idea that they can relocate or kill them, which is not what we want."
Last year Mr Young started a campaign on Facebook for a Water Rat Awareness Day, to honour a special rakali he had cared for.
Dubbed "Granny Ratty", the rakali was brought to Mr Young for care after it was found in Cressy.
They first thought it was a young rakali with a head injury.
"It was later discovered she was a senior citizen water rat, basically on her last legs," Mr Young said.
"We kept her going with a lot of anti-inflammatories and pain relief and she lived for another five months.
"She loved a prawn and she loved abalone, she was a very spoilt water rat."
Mr Young has cared for a number rakali now and spreads the word about this native animal by giving talks in schools and public libraries.
"My biggest thing is to get people to think about them and change their tune a bit," he said.
"Ours [the Tasmanian ones] are quite special.
"They're really obvious in the fact they have a really golden belly compared to the mainland ones."
So the next time to you spot a really large rat near the water, stop squealing, don't run away, and take a look at Australia's own rodent otter.
