THE OTTER

Evening Star, Issue 21504, 31 August 1933, Page 14

THE OTTER

INTERESTING BEAST MALIGNED BY HUNTERS LIFE IN THE WATER Gilbert White and subsequent naturewriters have described the otter as a devastator of fish life, but he is not really as bad as he is reputed to be. A year or two ago an unusually largo otter of 291 b weight was captured on the River Ivcl, in the act of feeding on a 61b trout. Its captor declared that the loss of every such trout meant a loss of £5 to him, and so he had to wage constant war against the otters as his greatest enemies. For the same reason he killed all the kingfishers he could, and no less than two hundred of these beautiful birds were killed within a few years on a small stretch of water, merely because this water teemed with yearling fish (says the ‘ Manchester Guardian ’). No one would deny that otters feed on trout and salmon, or that they do harm, but it requires only a little observation of the ways of otters to discover that in the majority of cases, perhaps all cases, salmon and trout do not constitute their main food. Just as fox hunters ignore the fact that foxes feed their cubs to a largo extent on rats, and kill as many rats in a year as they do poultry, so otter hunters fail to see that the otter devours in he average river more eels than any other fish, and in doing so is actually a friend to the angler. Examination of the stomachs of dead otters in various parts of the country has failed to convince me that the otter is an angler’s enemy. Trout have been found in them, but far more eels, water weeds, and frogs, and occasionally rats. Charles,St. John, the well-known Scottish angler, in _ his ‘ Sportsman’s Tour in Siitherlandshire ’ (1891) describes the otter as “ a most interesting animal, graceful in its movements, and in salmon rivers not nearly so destructive and injurious as ho is supposed to be, feeding on eels, flounders, and trout far more than on salmon; in such situations he is most unjustly persecuted.” IN THE ESTUARIES. In the autumn months of the year the otters can often be found at the river estuaries, particularly in Scotland and Wales, where they come in search of flounders and eels, and a few years ago I noted one which spent a week at the mouth of the River Alt in Lancashire, whose dirty waters have never sheltered salmon or trout this century. Charles St. John writes further in his ‘ Field Notes for the Year ” : “ I am daily more and more cqnvinced that the otter is by no means so great an enemy to salmon as he is supposed to be.” When the broods of young flappers go in for those charming fly-catching expeditions, the otter is often likely to take the young birds, and he is also known to raid the wild duck’s nest. Frogs also constitute a large part of the otter’s food. The home life of tho otter is fascinating. A prominent member of the Hawkestone Otter Hounds came across an otter’s comb or holt in the upper banks of the Dee, some little distance from tho water. There were four baby otters—wee, charming little fur-coated cubs that could just about manage to wriggle out of the hole to him. They looked too beautiful to harm, he told me, so he kept the couch a secret, and almost daily came to feed these cubs. They became so tamo that they would come up to him and feed from his hand. He bad seen the mother otter hissing with rage; she. of course, was untamable. BEATEN HOUNDS. A few years ago, in a Midland shire, I had the unusual experience of watching an otter outwit the hounds. Having heard that the master of the local otter hounds was bringing his pack up to the bridge to try and draw the reedbeds there we turned out to watch, for our old bitch otter had dwelt there many j r ears and we were loath to loso her. This particular ‘otter had the habit of lying out of her den in a special couch she had formed amongst the reeds. Tho hounds tried all over the river by the bridge, and again and again passed the place where the otter lay without detecting her. In the end the master drew them off. declaring that there were no otters in that part of the river. When they had gone the old naturalist by my side showed mo tho bed the otter had just left; it was still wet from her body. On another occasion a cjog happened to come upon this otter. She seized his face and dived with him. The otter was not seen again, but tho yells of tho hound when it came up told us who had won the duel.

The breeding season of the otter is irregular; the cubs are often born in the winter, but just as often in March or April—indeed, they may be born at any season of the year. The cubs aro blind and almost helpless for as long as eighty days in some cases, and even after they are sufficiently skilful to catch their food they may keep with their mothers for a year, though this depends on the fish life of the river, for where fish are specially preserved there is naturally more food available. Tho delightful whistles with which a mother otter calls her little ones are as pleasing as the sight of the old otter, in tier anxiety transporting her cubs, taking their little cheeks in her forepaws as she swims across the mill dam to safety, mewing to them as a cat mows to her kittens. Otters do not hibernate. When the snows are thick on the ground one may watch them sliding down the little hillocks and having great fun. They often have a slide or “ water chute ” near their dons, but they always seem to enjoy more the slide they make on the snows.