I follow your argument Mary, also appreciate that steps should be taken to safeguard
domestic animals from marauding predators. Foxes are known villains and my friend fully
appreciates he should have rounded up his fowls, but he's a believer in full free range
and that is too idealistic and he paid the price. Otters of course are rather a different
proposition, many areas have not seen the sight of this animal for many a year. You can
cover a small pond with netting, always an unsightly addition to an ornamental feature,
to frustrate fishing herons. But, I would suspect that an otter would be a very deter-
mined thief and how would you stop him emptying a sizeable pond? If he or she finds a
mate, and starts to breed, many in conservation would express delight and understandably.
I see in Wikipedia our European species Lutra lutra will or should consume 15% of its body-
weight a day, quite an appetite and if there are pups to feed, would represent an appreciable
toll even on a fair size body of water.
Your Forum
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The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more