A very thought provoking article. Its very sad that these animals are so destructive as they are truly beautiful. However the fact remains that they are very, very damaging to fisheries and should be shot. There, I think that makes my position clear.
Of course we can all call for moderation, patience, restraint, whilst some pussy foot around the issue and worry about what the general public might think. Meanwhile the otter munches his way through anything he can get hold of, causing untold damage to certain fisheries, just like the dear old cormorant.
They died out from much of England and therefore should have been left. Once you re-introduce an apex predator into a environment that has not seen one for 40 or 50 years you're asking for trouble. A very irresponsible act on the part of the Otter Trust, the Government (who I guess allowed this to happen) and any one else who was involved. If a company had done this and caused serious damage and loss of income to any individual they would be held to account and sued.
Everyone has their own opinion to which they are entitled, including mine. I'm fed up with this "oh but what can we do, people will be upset, they are all luvlly wuvlly wittle furwy things". Bullshit, their killers, Apex predators, They kill anything they can eat from birds, frogs, mice, voles, rats and even moles oh and most of all fish and lots of em.
Still some are right and the public opinion is stacked against us. People build otter holts and bloody otter trails. What do they see.....nothing. Most of the time the otter comes out at night, so remain unseen on the whole, except by anglers. Great.
Hopefully most of them will get run over on busy roads. Am I being selfish....yes just like all human beings are, otherwise there'd be no poverty in the world, no rain forests would be cut down and the seas wouldn't be raped for our food. I could go on but what's the point.
