Eurasian Otter Conservation Workshop

he Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) has a vast geographical range from Ireland in the west, through Europe and Asia and into North Africa. This looks very encouraging until you realise that very little is known about the otters in Africa and almost all of Asia. We also know that otters declined drastically in western Europe in the mid 20th century, largely due to pollution from pesticides and hunting. Since then there have been definite improvements with regards to pollution and hunting has been banned and this is therefore being hailed as a good news story for otters. But it is not that simple. There are still threats to otters from illegal hunting, conflicts with fishermen, disturbance, pollution, habitat loss, etc. There are some wonderful new records of the species in Nepal, India and Bhutan, but still information is very restricted and few people are working on otters.

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