Otters - This Far and no Further...

[Fred Bonney]

I'm sure he's seen it and is well out of it!!

[Bluenose]

Originally Posted by Fred Bonney

.... and is well out of it!!

As he's Membership Manager I'd beg to differ.

[Cliff Hatton 2]

I agree with Fred: a well-balanced article. Low industrial output, the balance of payments, the national debt, congested roads, international relations, the Leveson Inquiry, the banking scandal....none of these come close in importance to the matter of the environment. With an unstable foundation, everything falls down. I won't buy tuna - as much as I love it: flakes, steaks, chunks, fillets...in bags, cans and on slabs in every (?) supermarket in the world? How long can this go on? And eels? How can 'we' have reduced the eel population by 99% in 10 years? Shouldn't we have a Minister for Eels? They were Nature's bread 'n' butter for most of my life! Well done, Rod, on taking the time to construct this important article - it deserves a wider audience, I think.

[james]

Originally Posted by S-Kippy

I've no problem with otter per se...but I do have a problem with captive raised otter being released into areas that simply cannot support them. .

Who is releasing otters? I see this stuff spouted all the time.
No captive-bred otters have been introduced since 1999.

Otters, ANGLING TRUST Joint statement.

[S-Kippy]

Oh...well it must be true then. Amazingly resilient things these otters...without any outside help they've gone from hardly any to rampant in under 15 years.

[chav professor]

it is naive in the extreme to consider otters are not being reintroduced........ not a stocking program, but rehabilitated individuals need to be put back somewhere.

[bennygesserit]

Originally Posted by chav professor

it is naive in the extreme to consider otters are not being reintroduced........ not a stocking program, but rehabilitated individuals need to be put back somewhere.

How many would you guess Chav and where do they originate from ?

[chav professor]

Belstead brook in Ipswich had some introduced.... there is a wooden statue to commemorate the occasion erected two years ago...How many??? I should imagine that will be kept dark don't you?

[Jeff Woodhouse]

Originally Posted by S-Kippy

Amazingly resilient things these otters...without any outside help they've gone from hardly any to rampant in under 15 years.

Think how the red kites spread in that same period, Skippy.

Also, have you notice a fall in the numbers of mink? Not breeding? No new releases by idiots? Are the otters taking over their territories? Or am I talking a load of spheroids?

[S-Kippy]

Originally Posted by Jeff Woodhouse

Think how the red kites spread in that same period, Skippy.

Also, have you notice a fall in the numbers of mink? Not breeding? No new releases by idiots? Are the otters taking over their territories? Or am I talking a load of spheroids?

The Red Kites have done extraordinarily well but you might argue that they filled an empty niche...they dont seem to be in direct competition with anything other than the crows at the Beaconsfield landfill. They dont eat barbel either so I'm a big fan !

Hardly ever see a mink nowadays. Trapped or shot I guess and that would leave more room for otters.Ferocious devils mink...not sure how they'd fare against an otter though...they're bigger than a lot of people think and if al you've ever seen are the Asian Short clawed Otters [every wildlife park & zoo in the known Universe] then you'd be surprised at the size of a full grown "proper" otter.