Otter Roadkill Victim

[DRS]

Very sad... I'm happy to say though that at present where i work we have a family of otters who are thriving

[m1.carson]

Hi people,

Two things spring to mind here, sad though it is, friends I know refuse to tell outsiders where and when they've seen otters, as otter watchers will literally camp on the banks to see them, or should I call them anoracks, secondly, there must be many more otters around than we realise for them to be run over, which is a sort of good news. .

Max.

[epops]

Originally Posted by m1.carson

Hi people,

Two things spring to mind here, sad though it is, friends I know refuse to tell outsiders where and when they've seen otters, as otter watchers will literally camp on the banks to see them, or should I call them anoracks, secondly, there must be many more otters around than we realise for them to be run over, which is a sort of good news. .

Max.

good point i had'nt a clue there were any about here till about 2 weeks ago when i met an an old boy who not only told me he'd seen a couple of otters about he actually shew me where he saw them and also showed me some pics he'd taken not only of the 2 otters but also a young onewith them

[coasty]

It is surprising how widespread they are becoming again which is wonderful

[bunnylover]

As i mentioned before i seen one in the little housing estate i live in,my house is built on top of a piped stream.My friend phoned and told me of a dead one just beside the dual carriage way beside a lake about a mile away.Another lady i work with told me of one dead about 6 weeks ago on the road.All the road deaths i know of are paricularly at sep,oct time and my friend a keen bird watcher and wildlife enthusiast reckons the otters are running streams after silver eels which start heading back to the sargasso sea to breed this time.
This makes sense to me as all the road deaths have been near streams .
About 20 years ago my next door neighbour found one in his garden ,dead .This got me interested as a boy and i found that the young stay with the ma for about 1 year then head as much as 3 mile across land looking for their own territory.Great to see them flourishing now,although as far as im aware they have a short life span of around 4 years.Not sure about any of the above just what iv e read and observed for myself over the years.
My friend who shoots duck and would spend a lot of time in hides on water courses says he regularly sees them and would see mink bullying them at times?????

[The Woodman]

The Environment Agency collects otter road casulaties for analyis by a Unversity in South Wales and a vet service in Dorset?. If you get the chance to collect a casualty safely, bag it and freeze it if you can and contact your local EA office and speak to an ecologist who will know what to do with it. To date, I think around 4000 casualties have been examined and the results are available.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by coasty

It is surprising how widespread they are becoming again which is wonderful

Can I suggest that you report the sighting to your county biological records centre? That way If anyone is thinking of developing within 2km the record should pop up in their data search and they'l be forced to take them into consideration with the development....

There have been a lot of otter releases by the otter trust so this has helped the increase in distribution - its not all natural increase unfortunately. The releases aren't always thought through though, so many were released in such a small area near me that very shortly after, a few were lost on the roads and an organic trout farm was forced to close too....

Not sure why they couldn't wait for natural increase but there you go.....

[coasty]

Sighting was recorded on the same day

[thunder]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

The Environment Agency collects otter road casulaties for analyis by a Unversity in South Wales and a vet service in Dorset?. If you get the chance to collect a casualty safely, bag it and freeze it if you can and contact your local EA office and speak to an ecologist who will know what to do with it. To date, I think around 4000 casualties have been examined and the results are available.

Don't talk to me about frozen Otters! I once carried a frozen Otter from Dorset to Huntingdon by train! It started off rigid (it was well wrapped in opaque plastic bags) but became more and more relaxed as the journey progressed! Taking it on the tube was the trickiest part!

henrya

[squodgy]

Saw similar, a big DOG otter on the road next the River Wye tween Hay & Hereford last week.
Mixed feelings...on one hand very sad, on the other it shows they really are recovering...but at a time there are 30 million vehicles on the roads, compared with less than 1 million when they were persecuted out of existence.