Hey Otters,
yesterday we had a great time at ottercine. There was one question in the chat, which stuck to me: What does being/becoming a certtified otter-spotter entail?
I´ll give some context here, this is part one:
First, there are good news: the Eurasian Otter populations are on the rise. Once almost extinct in major parts of europe, he is back. But there are some challenges:
1. Habitat loss: The good thing is, there is no shortage of Otters, but a shortage of habitats. Eurasian Otters are solitary animals, they only enter another otters territory for mating. But as every Otter should have his own territory, there are not enough suitable landscapes.
2. Human-made dangers: Our modern infrastructure can be hazardous for Otters. As an Otter travels through rivers, to find a new territory or a mate, he needs to cross bridges. They can be a problem, as the otter likes to place spraints at the highest point possible, which is the top of the bridge, where the street is. This often gets the otter killed by traffic. Sometimes there even are no bridges, just a pipe under a road, too narrow or too flooded for otters to pass. This leaves them the only option to cross this section by entering the road.
3. Traffic: I described, why the otter crosses roads, now, what do the numbers say? As Otter the population grows, so are the number of Otters killed by traffic. This still is one of the biggest causes of Otter death in nature.
4. Other dangers:
fish traps: the traditional ones cannot be escaped by the otter, so he drowns in them. (Good news: the Otterzentrum Hankensbüttel helped to design "Otter friendly" fish traps, which have an exit for the Otter, only he can open. Still, this new design is still not used enough.)
Poor to bad water quality: in some regions the water quality is still not good enough to support life. This is true close to cities, where sewer overflows are regularly happening after strong rainfalls. This pollutes rivers with raw sewage, which is toxic to ...
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