Are these things tame?

[C.Ricko]

Hi All,

I was watching this otter eating a fish the other day when I thought about seeing how close I could get,

he did not seem all that bothered as I fol,lowed him up the garden taking photos and videos as he came up for air every 10 feet or so.

where he was under the bridge I dont thinlk he was at all worried about me as he found another fish a few inches slong and ate it while watching me!

Are they being bred and introduced or was this one a bit dim??

[jillR]

hi clive

i guess they are never attacked by humans and may see no reason to be afraid.

you may be a familiar face to him if he lives localy.

some animals sense kind sympathetic people who wouldent harm them.

my middle daughter gets approached by all sorts of wild animals, ive seen blue tits land on her etc

jill

[Hockham Admiral]

Beautiful, Clive.

You are well blessed with such creatures living with you.

[C.Ricko]

Beautiful, Clive.

You are well blessed with such creatures living with you.

Hi John,

Strictly speaking the only creatures living with me are my kids, the otters live outside I am still allowed to live in the house.

I had never seen him before until the day after boxing day when he was bobbing about in the middle briefly (I guess it was the same) and come to think of it there was something down there in the summer although I did not get a good look it must have been an otter...

I guess I will see him all the time now!

[BuffaloBill]

You are well blessed with such creatures living with you

Unless you keep Koi in your pond...as someone in last weeks paper

discovered when they returned from holiday! Lost hundreds of £'s worth.

Sadly I no-longer have the time or space for them.

No it wasn't me in the paper! But I do sympathise with them.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

The BIG problem with otters is the way are decimating fish wherever they are. There are many commercial fisheries that have reported the loss of thousands of pounds of coarse fish due to otter predation, and there are many groups now looking to apply to Government to re-list them as vermin. They all look very cute, but they can cause havoc to fish farms etc. Years ago, they were an endangered spiecies, now though they have gone the other way and have become so widespread, they are killing other otter groups that wander into their teritory. Last year there was a piece in the angling and local press about otters found dead on a riverbank, and local fishing clubs were blamed, but in fact, they were killled by a rival family of otters after it is believed they "trespassed" on their teritory. I`ve also read in the angling press that Norfolk angling clubs are seriously concerned at how otters are having a detremental effect on fishing on the Broads and rivers. Just a shame that something so cute can be so vicious to other wildlife, especially when they kill fish but DON`T eat it.

Regards to all .................... Neil.

[C.Ricko]

when I saw it he was eating a fish about 7 inches he left the tail but that was probably my fault... with in a few mins another was being eaten, this was about 3 or 4 inches long

[donnygeoff]

The BIG problem with otters is the way are decimating fish wherever they are

They have to eat

how otters are having a detremental effect on fishing on the Broads and rivers

they have to eat

so cute can be so vicious to other wildlife

thats nature

especially when they kill fish but DON`T eat it.

how many fish have died at the hands of inexperienced and even experienced anglers

[DelticMemories]

Am I right in saying they have to eat around 5 kilo of fish per day?

[teadaemon]

Am I right in saying they have to eat around 5 kilo of fish per day?

That would be around half it's bodyweight (normally 7-12kg), which is very high for a top predator eating a protein and energy rich diet.

One of the main reasons that Otters are doing so well at the moment is that the fish population is generally doing fairly well, providing them with enough food to live and produce offspring. If they were having a serious effect on the fish population, then that would be followed fairly quickly by starving Otters, and the whole situation would balance out again.

[Hockham Admiral]

That would be around half it's bodyweight (normally 7-12kg), which is very high for a top predator eating a protein and energy rich diet.

One of the main reasons that Otters are doing so well at the moment is that the fish population is generally doing fairly well, providing them with enough food to live and produce offspring. If they were having a serious effect on the fish population, then that would be followed fairly quickly by starving Otters, and the whole situation would balance out again.

Straight from Wikipedia:

Otters consume about 7 to 30 percent of their body weight each day, depending on species and activity level.

[littlesprite]

Otters are native to this country and have been around for hundreds of years without fish stocks suffering badly, the only time things start to change is when man thinks he knows best and starts to interfere.

[Gordon]

Well said littlesprite. It's good to see them back the only reason that they became rarer was because we polluted the waters and secondly well meaning and totally misguided people released mink into our countryside We should be proud to see the otters back it suggests we have cleaned up our waters and allowed nature to take control. Fish stocks will improve and nature will balance itself out. The otters did not eat all the fish and starve to death over the last few millennia nor will they over the next few if we don't screw the world up. Must have been a special moment for you Clive

[Jim]

Cute aren't they? We spotted one on the Bure when we were making our way up to Womack for the NBN birthday party on 2009. They can give a nasty bite by the way!!