The Vanishing Otter

Anglia Television wildlife documentary examining the threat to otter populations.

Documentary highlighing the decline of the otter and the state of England's waterways. Amongst the wildlife of the Norfolk Broads - from water voles to heron - the otter remains a most elusive creature, partly because they are largely active at dawn and dusk, but also because human progress is threatening their riverside habitats. The life of otters is shown, beginning with a female otter with two cubs in a holt, and following them through early life, from their first forays out of the holt and the use of 'contact calls', to the beginning of a fish diet and periods of play and discovery on the riverbank. Although fully-grown otters have no natural predators, they had been threatened by hunters and fishermen since the 12th century, who saw them as rivals and thieves. Now protected, the principal threat to otters is the ever-increasing disturbance of waterways, from chemicals and pesticides, to the draining of marshlands and the complex nature of their diverse overground feeding areas. The Norfolk-based Otter Trust, along with the Nature Conservancy, work to protect the current otter population, whose feeding grounds in East Anglia extend to the saltwater marshes, where they stalk crabs and flat fish during low tide.

Keywords

Endangered species; Natural habitats; Norfolk Broads; Otters; Wildlife conservation