Otter News Archive

The senseless and growing clamour from some angling circles and irresponsible commentators in the angling media to introduce an otter cull, could have far reaching and serious repercussions.

So far the general public have largely supported anglers for they view the sport as Isaac Walton's gentle art.

In addition anglers were further applauded when the majority refused to join the Countryside Alliance during the long drawn out debate on fox hunting.

However anglers would do well to remember the outcome of that controversy. Fox hunting was banned because more than 70 per cent of the British people thought it was a cruel field sport.

Otter hunting was prohibited long before that, also by the demand of the caring public who did not wish for one of their most treasured and engaging mammals to be threatened by extinction.

Thus, it would not be a sensible idea for anglers to campaign for a restoration of otter hunting or to support any other means involving lethal control of a species which the public has adored since a film was adapted from Henry Williamson's book Tarka the Otter.

In the unlikely event that angling's lunatic fringe ever got their way and the otter population was again subjected to selective massacre, most certainly a caring public would turn angry against rod and line sport, perhaps with most serious consequences.

Because otter numbers declined during the harsh 1962/63 winter and then during the coypu extermination campaign which trapped many otters that were drowned in cages throughout East Anglia, the Otter Trust was formed and worked wonders.

The Trust released nearly 200 otters that were bred in captivity with less than a dozen going into the Norfolk Broads area during the campaign that ended in 1988.

Otters are here to stay and anglers would be wise to digest the fact that fish were not put on this planet solely to amuse sportsmen and women.

This was confirmed on television this week when a chef in the Great British Menu programme caught himself a pike, filleted the fish on the bank and had a fry-up on the waterside. Fish are part of nature's food chain where men and some mammals have always eaten most species.

Compared with the damage caused by a burgeoning population of alien mink and the annual toll of fish thieves supplying the bait industry, the fish consumption by otters is pretty insignificant in its natural habitat. However where these mammals start targeting carp waters then clearly action is required, either removing the offender or investing in protective fencing.

It is a serious criminal offence to kill otters or even disturb the place where it lives. But as previously mentioned application forms for relocation are available from Natural England.

As for cormorants, culling permits are readily available from DEFRA in approved schemes which up to now have proved successful. However for the otter the message is loud and clear. Kill one and you may have to face music which almost certainly will not be easy on the ear.

Otter Joy is wholly owned by L.C. Wright and has no affiliation with any organisaiton or body