December 2nd, 2009
Good News for Otters
It’s taken 30 years, but now it would seem that the English otter is making a comeback! Agricultural pesticides were responsible for their diminishing numbers, but there have been sightings in various parts of the country, particularly in Dorset, with all of the county’s rivers housing otter colonies.
Between the 1950’s and 1980’s agricultural pesticides leaked into the rivers and streams blinding the otters and damaging their immune systems. In addition to this, the chemicals also poisoned the fish the mammals fed on.
Thankfully, due to the combination of conservationists, farmers and water companies, the otter’s luck has changed. There is now a 15m protection zone between agricultural land and the waterways, where the farmers cannot spray pesticides. Consequently, the rivers have improved dramatically, plants grow again, insects flourish and this creates a healthy ecological state for everything else to grow and develop.
With healthier waterways, a ban on otter hunting and the pesticide exclusion zone, the otters are now happily regaining their original habitats. However, there is one disgruntled party; the fishermen – they claim the mammals are stealing their fish and therefore threatening their livelihood. Well, probably true, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time!
