Dead male otter (A548 Abergele)

[christ1979]

On travelling into Abergele (16/10/11) it was to our dismay to discover a dead male otter on the A548 just outside the 40 mph stretch near to the edge of the town.

The animal was discovered by the side of the road, it had clearly been hit by a car within the past few hours - It was apparent no one had stopped to assist the stricken animal!

Myself & my partner who are keen animal conservationists passed by realised it was in fact an otter & returned with a local animal welfare representative who removed the body. I feel this rare & much loved animal is a sever loss to an area where each & every otter counts & deserves the utmost respect yet the person or persons involved in this tragedy have done nothing!

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by christ1979

On travelling into Abergele (16/10/11) it was to our dismay to discover a dead male otter on the A548 just outside the 40 mph stretch near to the edge of the town.

The animal was discovered by the side of the road, it had clearly been hit by a car within the past few hours - It was apparent no one had stopped to assist the stricken animal!

Myself & my partner who are keen animal conservationists passed by realised it was in fact an otter & returned with a local animal welfare representative who removed the body. I feel this rare & much loved animal is a sever loss to an area where each & every otter counts & deserves the utmost respect yet the person or persons involved in this tragedy have done nothing!

As tragic as this accident is, I'm not sure it's entirely fair to blame anyone for not assisting the otter. Are you sure the otter wasn't killed outright (there's blood around the head, so this is entirely possible)? If so, what could anyone have done? Someone may well have stopped, realised the otter was beyond help and carried on with their journey - again, I'm not sure that's a course of action that should be condemned as uncaring.

On the other hand, it may have been difficult for the driver to stop. I'm not sure which side of Abergele you were on but, if I remember rightly, the A548 both east and west of the town is quite a fast road. The driver may have felt it was too dangerous to stop.

Perhaps you could report the incident here:

Otter Project

Cheers
Jonathan

[christ1979]

Thank you for your insight, comments noted!

[Dogghound]

Traffic collisions are a major form of otter mortality, however as the species become more abundant then we are likely to see more being killed this way. They are spreading quite rapidly now and are not particularly rare. Small populations may be at risk, but as the population increases this will be less of a problem. They are very good at dispersing to new areas, so will quickly recolonise an area. Interestingly otter road kills are not restricted to areas besides bridges, culverts etc but often substantial distances away from water. Regularly used terrestrial dispersal route ways can be hot spots, may be worth keeping an eye on the area.