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 st 31 May 2017 #worldotterday #worldotterday 1 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 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 2 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 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 3 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 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. 4 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 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).