Worldotterday

www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

e-Update 78, June 2017 Join our IOSF mailing list and receive our newsletters - Click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/p3lrsmx

31st May 2017 #worldotterday

#worldotterday

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

Thanks to YOU, World Otter Day was a huge success. Just look at some of the events which went on worldwide (photos above).

Many people joined in with our social media posts and we had #WorldOtterDay trending. Posters and banners were designed and used in many countries to raise awareness. Schools got involved; so many young people were talking about otters and having fun learning. There was even a rally in Nepal and, zoos and wildlife parks in several countries held special otter awareness days.

And all of this was only possible because of your support!

So a huge thank you to everyone who took part, and to those who fundraised for us

Of course otter awareness is not just for one day – every day is otter awareness day. So let’s keep telling people about otters. www.otter.org

Grand Raffle Prize Winners We are delighted to announce that the World Otter Day Grand Raffle raised almost £800. Thank you to everyone who took part. The winners are:

 1st prize, Otter sculpture by Mike Wood - Allan from Edinburgh  2nd prize, Otter Watching Day for 2 people - Marie in France  3rd prize, Pollyanna Pickering limited edition print - Wendy from Macclesfield Allan with his otter sculpture Photo: Allan Stewart  4th prize, Sea Otter print by Wendy Payne - Flora from Winchester  5th prize, Otter Adoption Gift Box - Meredith in USA  6th prize, Signed copy of Otters of the World - Nancy in USA  7th prize, Soft otter plush toy - Heidy in Germany

IOSF Welcomes New Member of Staff As of 1 June, IOSF now has a new member of staff. Ben Yoxon has joined our team as Education and Research Officer. Of course, the name will be familiar as he is the son of founders Grace and Paul Yoxon, and so he has grown up with otters.

Ben has always had an interest in wildlife and the environment and is also a keen sports coach for local children. He has travelled widely and in addition to our Eurasian otter he has seen giant otters, sea otters and North American river otters in the wild and was fortunate enough to visit Pursat at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Ben is working with our web designer, Dougi Lapsley (citrus-media.co.uk), to develop interactive

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017 educational material and he has taken over updating the children’s website, TEAM OTTER. In the future we hope to develop a programme of visits to schools and other groups, but he has already started this work with a visit to Struan School on Skye, following their Walk for Wildlife (above). So kids, if you want to see your photos, poems or artwork on the TEAM OTTER website (http://www.loveotters.org) email them to [email protected]

News from the Hospital Why are otters so awkward?! They never seem to behave as they are supposed to! Ganga is ready for release and so we made arrangements to release her last week – only we didn’t tell her! So when we went to catch her for release she had hidden herself deep inside her enclosure and would not come out. How do you release an otter you can’t catch?!!

We left her fish and later when we checked, of course the fish had gone. Next day we went to feed her and she stuck her head out of her hideaway almost as if to tease. So now we have had to re-schedule her release and hopefully by the time you receive this she will Noelle be back in the wild.

In the meantime Sofi and Noelle have also dug a hole under their sleeping box. I left them some fresh hay – we always give them a starter kit in the box and if any more is needed we put it in the enclosure and let them take it in to encourage them to make their own beds. But no. They rolled in it, made tunnels through it and played with it, but they wouldn’t take it in the box! So when it rained the hay got soaked and in the end I had to put fresh hay into the box itself. Hopefully they will catch on to the idea of doing things for themselves soon.

As I said, why are otters so awkward! Sofi

If you would like to support our cubs in the Sanctuary you can send a cheque marked "Hospital" on the back or make a donation online at www.ottershop.co.uk

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

Otters Come to the Rescue of Water Voles In the Kielder Forest in Northumberland, they have just released 325 water voles and plan to release another 350 later this year – this is the biggest reintroduction of this species in the UK, and follows on from a similar programme at Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales last summer.

But are they not simply putting more of these animals on the menu for otters? In the past people believed that the gradual increase in numbers of otters has been partly responsible for the decrease in water voles. But it seems to be the opposite situation. Water Vole by Amy Lewis

Like otters, water voles depend on clean aquatic environments and they were decimated by loss of habitat and pollution but also by the rapid increase in American mink which escaped from fur farms. Indeed more than 90% of voles disappeared in the UK and none were seen in Kielder for over 20 years because of the mink. Otter numbers have improved in the area and they seem to have pushed out the mink.

The project is being run by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, the Forestry Commission and Tyne Rivers Trust, with animals being brought south from Scotland.

It is always good to see the return of a native Photo:Katy Cook species, especially when it has been almost wiped out by careless acts of people, who brought in the American mink. Water Vole by Tom Marshall https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/15/ratty-returns- hundreds-of-water-voles-released-in-uks-biggest-reintroduction

A New Way to Give

IOSF is now registered with GivingGrid https://www.givinggrid.com/otters/ . When you make a donation you have the option to upload your favourite photo (which might be your pet, you, a place) and add it to the grid. Gradually the grid will become a collection of images – it’s fun and creative and helps otters too!

Give Us Your Otter News (Photos: Andy Rothwell) It was pointed out to us that most of the news in our e-updates comes from abroad, apart from news from our Otter Sanctuary. So we would like to include more ottery news from closer to home and you can help us by sending us your otter news and stories to [email protected]

To start us off, here is a summary of a paper Andy Rothwell wrote about his otter survey on the River Dee in Aberdeenshire.

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

“The River Dee is the main river system in the county of Aberdeenshire. It is approximately 140km in length, flowing eastwards from its source in the Cairngorms to the North Sea at Aberdeen. It is a fast flowing river with larger fish species such as salmon (Salmo salar) and trout (Salmo trutta). These fish species are an important food resource for otters.

The overall findings of the most recent National Otter Survey of Scotland, which was completed in 2012, indicated an apparent decline in recorded otter presence at several of the sites sampled when compared to the previous National Spraint site on rock at Otter Survey, completed in 2004. Furthermore, comparing bankside on the lower reaches of the River Dee results for otter occurrence on the River Dee from these two National Surveys showed a decrease in positive survey sites, from 98.1% in 2004 to 75% in 2012. The aim of this survey therefore was to assess the current presence of otter along the River Dee, by means of spot- checks for spraint sites (deposits of otter faeces), from its upper reaches down to the coast. A series of survey sites were chosen at roughly every 2 to 3km, on either side of the riverbanks (based on ease of accessibility to the river), with additional focus points to include all accessible bridge crossings along the river’s course.

At each survey site, any field signs found indicating otter activity was recorded. This included spraints, spraint sites, footprints, rest-sites (holts and lie-ups).

The main part of the survey was to examine the River Dee but a few of its tributaries were also surveyed, in order to ascertain any immediate otter activity away from the main river. A small section of coastline, following on from the mouth of the river was also examined.

All of the survey sites on the River Dee were positive for field signs of otter and fresh or recently deposited spraints were found throughout the upper, mid and lower regions of the river. However, seven of its tributaries were negative. This could have been because the survey on the tributaries was only conducted through spot-checks around bridges and not searching further up- or downstream. So it Recent otter prints at the does not mean that otters were not utilising the seven bankside along the middle tributaries concerned but that spraint was not deposited, or reaches of the River Dee not found, during the time of the survey. It may have been the case that otters were only hunting along the main river in these areas and not venturing up these particular tributaries. If there are no spraints in an area this does not mean that otters do not visit.

Looking at the diet by spraint analysis, fish was the most common prey item, particularly salmon, trout and eel, although marine fish were found in the lower reaches of the river – presumably the otters were spending at least some time hunting at sea. Of the non-fish material found, mammal was the second most abundant prey item followed by bird and frog. Feathers were observed in spraints mostly found in 5 of 11 Regulated By Oscr British Animal Honours 2013 (Office of the Scottish IFAW Animal Action Wildlife Conservation Charity Regulator) Award Winner 2012 Award Winner

May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017 the lower and mid reaches of the Dee. Whereas frog bones occurred both in the lower and upper reaches of the Dee, crab remains only appeared in one spraint along the lower reaches at Aberdeen City.

During the course of the survey, evidence of other mammals were also seen a pine marten (Martes martes) scat and badger (Meles meles). An adult male mink (Neovison vison) was also seen.”

You can read the whole of Andy’s paper in OTTER, the Journal of IOSF, available at the Otter Shop

New Vietnamese Action to Tackle Illegal Wildlife Trade The Vietnamese National Assembly has approved the 2015 Penal Code which will come into force on 1 January 2018. The final version of the code has not yet been made public but it should bring stricter penalties for those found guilty of wildlife crime, either through killing wildlife or dealing in products. Vietnam is an important route for wildlife trafficking and with this new code it means that the authorities will be able to investigate more thoroughly and criminals will be given tougher penalties to deter others. http://www.traffic.org/home/2017/6/21/newly-approved-vietnamese-penal-code-should-enhance- efforts.html

Smooth-Coated Otter Found Close to Bustling Bengaluru Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) is the state capital of Karnataka and the third most populated city in India with over 12 million people. So it came as quite a surprise to find otters living not far from this mass of humanity.

A camera trap had been set up by Sanjay Gubbi and his team from Nature Conservation Foundation to study leopards on the outskirts of the city. Previous surveys had revealed a good population of leopards in the BM Kaval Reserve Forest and 2,000 acres of deemed forests which connect with the Bannerghatta National Park.

At the end of May a photo of an otter was taken on a forest trail about 700m from the Smooth-coated otter captured by a camera trap. Vaderahalli lake. No-one had (Photo: Nature Conservation Foundation) expected otters to be present and Dipika Bajpai, deputy conservator of forests, Bengaluru urban division said, “Though we were aware of the presence of wildlife in this area, it is nice to document this species. I would rate this as one of the rare findings considering the fact that Bengaluru is one of the most populated cities in the country.”

This finding just goes to show how important it is to conserve forests and lakes even near such populated areas. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/614371/rare-sighting-smooth-coated-otter.html

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

The Singapore Otter Saga Continues As you will remember, there are two groups of smooth-coated otters – the Marina otters and the Bishan otters and it seems that things are not all sweet between them. The Bishan group had forced the Marina group to move to a new territory upstream in the Singapore river but it was reported in the media that they then followed them there. Video footage showed members of the public keeping the Bishan otters away from the new holt and it took over two hours for them to get the hint and retreat back to their own territory. http://www.theindependent.sg/singaporeans-step-in-to-protect-otters-living-in-marina-from- bishan-rivals/

This then led to an online debate about whether it is right for people to interfere in such events or whether nature should be allowed to take its course. http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/to-help-or-not-to-help-human-intervention-in- otter-family-feud-sparks-online

This is a very hard issue to decide. On the one hand if no-one had done anything both groups would have suffered possible injury and even deaths. On the other side this is what happens naturally in the wild and the Bishan group have already returned. This time the Marina group leapt into the water to take on the invaders and since then one of the Marina cubs has been missing – this happened before in 2016 when a Marina cub was killed.

One of the otter families at Singapore Photo: Tan Yong Lin

One thing is certain that people have to take care of their own safety and the National Parks Board has put advice on their website to tell people to avoid touching, chasing or cornering otters.

In Singapore it seems that most people have taken the otters to their heart and so it is very difficult for them to stand by and do nothing. It is also hard for them when the Marina group recently lost their alpha male after becoming ill with symptoms of vomiting and blood in the spraint. After a dog was treated for poisoning after eating rat poison it was suggested that this could also have been the cause of the otter’s death. Rentokil are investigating but they believe this is unlikely.

Part of the problem is that the environment is so altered by man and the area so busy with people that it is inevitable for people and otters will meet regularly. But Sivasothi, senior lecturer at the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

Singapore, who runs their Otter Watch scheme said that he was “heartened” by the fact that people tried to prevent the fight. It is far more positive that "the usual response of fear and ignorance" by some people or those who call for a cull of the otters.

This was brought home by an incident reported on 16 June when an otter was found dead in a cage on the Marina Promenade. Later that day a man was seen setting traps at the promenade and action is being taken against him. It is believed the otter is one of the Bishan group as one animal hadn’t been seen for two days. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/dead-otter-found-in-cage-at-marina- promenade-man-caught-setting-8952202

On a lighter note, some wonderful photos were posted on the internet for World Otter Day, showing the otters in poses with captions we can all identify with! http://mothership.sg/2017/06/here-are-20-photos-of-spore-otters-in-completely-identifiable-work- scenarios-for-world-otter-day/

Ancient Sea Otter Tooth Found in Mexico Suggests They Migrated Across America In March 2017, Dr Jack Tseng was in Mexico to research the intercontinental immigration of fossil mammals, when he was shown a jawbone. Dr Tseng is assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, New York. At first he thought it was from a badger but it turned out to be from an ancient form of sea otter and it was 6 million years old (Late Miocene). But how did a sea otter come to be in the Juchipila Basin in central Mexico?

Dr Tseng and his colleagues found that the lower first molar tooth in the jaw was almost identical to a tooth from Enhydritherium terraenovae which had been found in Florida. Until then fossils of this species had only been found along the coasts of Florida and California, on opposite sides of the continent. The fossils from Florida are older than those from California and so somehow the otters seem to have gone from east to west – but how? Scientists wondered if they went north and round the tip of Canada (8000 km), or Fossil jawbone fragment of the sea- south to Panama and cross there? But the new otter-like Enhydritherium, recently evidence seems to suggest that these otters discovered in central Mexico. Photo: Jack Tseng travelled from east to west across Mexico along the edge of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, and it is possible that other animals did the same.

But there is another question – why did they move at all?

Animals tend to move on either when they need to expand their range or when conditions become unfavourable. Maybe the otters simply took the opportunity to expand their range across the continent. Later on there would be ice ages which would kill many large mammals but relatives of Enhydritherium, which were about the size of a small to medium dog, survived and still live in central Mexico today.

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

So far, not much palaeontological work has been done in Mexico and Dr Tseng said “This is the beginning of the study. Now that we have this evidence of these animals moving through Mexico, we can now look for evidence of other animals doing the same. We are aware it is a single discovery. It essentially opens up a can of worms. We are throwing a different factor in. We now have a connection between Florida and California, and it's not in a straight line."

Fascinating. https://phys.org/news/2017-06-ancient-otter-tooth-mexico-mammals_1.html The full report can be found at http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/13/6/20170259

Otter Oscars Nominations are now open for the 2017 Otter Oscars. So if you feel that anyone deserves special recognition for what they have done for otters it is easy to nominate them.

As before the categories will be:  Children (aged 12 years or under as at 1 December 2017)  Young People (aged 13 – 18 years as at 1 December 2017)  Group/Organisation – For example school, natural history group, Scouts/Guides, etc  Community Achievement – Any activity carried out in 2017 which involves local communities in otter conservation  Research – Open to amateur or professional researchers for work carried out during 2017  Photography – Open to amateur or professional photographers. All photos must have been taken during 2017  Special Award – Open to anyone who has made a lifelong commitment to otter conservation

Applications/nominations can be made in more than one category, providing the outlined criteria are met.

You can click to the nomination form at http://www.otter.org/Public/News_StopPress.aspx and you have until Friday 24 November to submit your nomination.

Results will be announced on 1 December 2017, but if you have any questions please contact [email protected]

Otter Watching Day Winners As winners of our Year of the Otter Grand Raffle, on May 23rd Catriona and Ian Vance of Stevenage joined us for their otter watching day. It was lovely to meet them and discover their enthusiasm for all wildlife, as well as otters.

Coming Events Weymouth SEA LIFE Adventure Park will be holding its annual conservation Evening on Friday 14 July 2017.

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

Product of the Month - Otter Shop (on Twitter @otter_shop and Facebook) Where all profits go to help otters Check out the new Otter Marketplace category highlighting art and craft work purchased at the Otter Shop but dispatched to you directly from the supplier. A great way to bring exciting and individual items to our customers.

www.ottershop.co.uk DeCumi cuff bracelet

Thanks Thank you to everyone who has sent in fundraising donations for World Otter Day, and to those of you who have been generous in your giving towards our work for otters. Also, our thanks to the Beryl Evetts and Robert Luff Animal Welfare Trust Ltd, and Nature Nurture for their support.

On 19 May there was a special event for primary schools to create a new Guinness World Record for the most children taking part in a sponsored walk at the same time. Schools could choose which wildlife charity they would like to support and two schools The Raasay Primary School children wearing from Skye and Lochalsh decided to support the otters. their otter masks, with teachers and family Fortunately the weather was good and both schools who supported them during their were also well supported by friends and family. Walk4Wildlife. Photo: Raasay Primary School

Ethan Carslaw Class P7 at Raasay School wrote the following for the school website (https://raasayprimary.com/). “Today as part of the Walk 4 Wildlife we went on a nature walk to spot animals. The areas we searched were the woods and the seashore. We managed to observe herons, woodlouse, hooded crows and other small creatures. We also put posters up for the Walk 4 Wildlife event on Friday 19th May. If you would like to join us please meet at the school gate at 2pm. This is part of a Guinness World Record attempt to get as many school children walking together as possible. We are raising money for the International Otter Survival Fund which is based in Broadford. Below are a few photos of us on our wildlife walk in the woods and at the beach.”

As always, the local communities were extremely generous and the children’s walks raised a grand total of £96.83 from Raasay and £430 from Struan. Both of these schools are very small – Raasay has six pupils and Struan has four. So they all put in a lot of effort to take part and raise funds.

The final number of children who took part is still to be announced but the total to date is 19,059. So well done to everyone who took part and raised funds for wildlife conservation.

The Big Five Five unique sponsored walks around the UK, all raising money to help protect our planet's wildlife

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May 31st www.otter.org IOSF e-update no.78 June 2017

We all know walking is good for you and we all know we should get out and walk more. So how about taking up that advice and doing something rewarding this year? Join one of these unique sponsored walks and raise money for the International Otter Survival Fund.

The Sussex South Downs Sun 25th June Snowdonia National Park Sun 16th July Yorkshire 3-Peaks Sat 26th - Sun 27th Aug London's Richmond Park & Wimbledon Common Sun 10th Sept New Forest, Hampshire Sat/Sun 28/29th Oct

Make 2017 a year to remember. Check out the 'Big 5 Walks' and take up the challenge!

Find out more at: http://www.walking4wildlife.com/big-5-walks

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International Otter Survival Fund Join our IOSF mailing list. Click on this link: 7 Black Park http://tinyurl.com/p3lrsmx Broadford Isle of Skye IV49 9DE www.otter.org Scotland

Email: [email protected] The International Otter Survival Fund Tel/Fax: ++(0)1471 822487 Working to Save the Worlds Otters

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May 31st