Wet winter putting otters in peril, says Shropshire group
People are being asked to report sightings of otters – dead or alive – after five were killed in the space of 10 days.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust says it has received increasing reports of otters being killed on roads since December.
Stuart Edmunds, of Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Shropshire Mammal Group, said that during a 10 day period in December, five dead otters were reported in the Shrewsbury area alone.
He warned that the high number of deaths would have a significant impact on the area's otter population.
He said: "The wet winter was bound to have a detrimental impact on otter populations. The data collected on road casualty otters from the public will help us to identify how many otters are being killed and will enable us to research contingencies to reduce those figures."
Otters are elusive river-dwelling mammals which almost disappeared from Shropshire completely by the 1970s, due largely to river pollution and hunting. However, since becoming legally protected, numbers have increased.
Mr Edmunds said: "The cause of the increased number of otter fatalities is likely to be the high water levels of rivers and streams, due to the huge amounts of rainfall this winter. Flooded bridges are of particular risk to otters. Despite being strong swimmers, otters are unlikely to attempt to pass through a bridge if the current is too powerful, so instead they will venture out of the rivers to cross roads to cut out the most dangerous sections. Sadly many otters are killed on roads.
Records can be sent to SMGrecord@gmail.com
