Advice regarding otters in pond
 

I've just discovered we have otters in our pond. I'm used to having to deal with beavers, but we've never had otters before.

Should I try to get rid of them or leave them alone?

Will they keep beavers away?

Are they damaging or harmful?

Thanks in advance.

they will eat your fish is about all. Fun to watch.

They'll eat muskrats too.

When they eat all of the fish they will leave. The problem is, it will not take very long.

If you have fish or Frogs they will clean it out. We trap and shoot everyone seen.

big rockpile

Depending on where, otter pelts can bring a good dollar.

Send me one of them otters! I'm ok with the fish disappearing. It's the water spilling out a hole in the backside that has me concerned.

Exactly. They haven't been here in my lifetime until about 10 years ago when the state was nice enough to introduce 3 pair into our local river. Big writeup in the paper about how nice it would be to see otters here. They seem to multiply well and are now found at least 10 miles from where they were introduced in both directions. Pond owners within a mile or so from the river fight them constantly but I haven't heard of any much farther from the river. They will completely destroy a fishing pond or small lake.

Trap or shoot them. A lawn chair in the shade and a sighted in 22 rifle is all you need. Shotgun works well too. They aren't bad eating either.

Yep, kill them, thats always the answer here. :grump:

Well, it is *an* answer. I've put up with them without issues when they were on the upstream edge of the pond. . Now they are in the dam. It's serious enough that I need to do something. I'm open for suggestions. Are they trappable?

They do eat the nasty imported grass carp that everyone's trying to kill off.

Because ''live trap'' and transfer is almost always against the law, it is usually the best option. If you do not have or want fish you are in fine form with them as neighbors. Maybe they do make otter fencing but I would not be able to find it in my area.

Yes they are trappable. The fur is probably still good but I don't know about your trapping season.

If you have a dog don't let it in the pond or they may drown it.

I doubt they dug the den in the dam. More likely they took over an old beaver den or enlarged an existing muskrat den. If you are too concerned about the fish I would let them be and enjoy watching them.

They are bringing around $80

I think you are thinking of Bighead Carp which are more in rivers than Ponds. Grass Carp are beneficial to ponds eating unwanted Plant Growth.

Our Trapping Season ends last of March in Missouri.

big rockpile

Fur prices are dropping like a rock again and otter weren't doing all that well to begin with compared to some other furs like muskrat but they are still worth harvesting.

they are likely eating muskrats (see bullocks farm ) and are a sign of good health balance for your pond, leave them

They were introduced here 20 years ago and have progressed throughout the area eating all the fish in all the streams but we still pay the same for fishing license to fish where there are no fish left. They are protected here so beware of breaking the laaw. They don't toy around with endangered species.They'll burn you big.Good luck!


wADE

they don't eat all they kill also,they just like to kill

A weasel is a weasel is a weasel... Just saying'. Mink, skunk, otter, fisher...

One winter I snowshoed to a little bog lake and noticed some dark shapes on the ice. When I got close I found a half dozen frozen snapping turtles. The tracks said that an otter hauled them up on the ice and pushed them around awhile before abandoning them.

Other than those turtles I've never seen evidence that they killed extra or stashed food like a mink.

Were the otters not found there naturally before being exterminated by trappers etc? If so, how on earth did they survive thousands of years together then??
If otters once were native there, then it isn't the otters that ate all the fish. It was the overfishing, damage to riparian, farm runoff, highway runoff, siltation smothering eggs from any number of man made projects, laundry detergent and the list is endless.
There WERE more fish EVERYWHERE 20 years ago. It wasn't just the otters.

Well, looking for that silver lining, you won't have to worry about alligators: Otter catches and eats baby gator.

Seriously, contact your local DNR or equivalent. They'll be able to give you the best advice on how to legally deal with them in your area.

I was surprised to see a couple otters in my best fishing pond a couple years ago. They cleaned every living thing out of it, it seems and moved on. I'm going to try and restock the pond this year. I haven't caught a fish in it since or seen any sign of anything in it.

Otters have a large home range - Unless you have a fish hatchery in your pond I wouldn't worry about them too much, You may see them once in a while which is cool but I doubt they give you much trouble -
By the way Joey, I looked at the photo page for White Flint farm - I have to say you're doing it exactly right, Trust your own judgement about the otters.
Peace - Carry on

I really don't understand what you are trying to say here but You are just wrong! The otter were put into the big oaks wildlife refuge which is a fenced in-no access Government facility consisting of 57,000 acres. For some reason you think that when the otter were put in all of a sudden "man" decided to screw up the habitat, and you are just wrong!
The fish in ALL the streams in the enclosure were monitored by the government and the decline of the fish population is documented. It took about 3 years of the otter being established for them to multiply and begin to spread outside the enclosure and it continues to expand each year.
To this date the streams inside the enclosure have not fully recovered to the point they were prior to the otter.There is no "run-off" from farms and all the other things you brought up.The otter have established a permanent residence inside the enclosure in a 160 acre lake and the offspring are "kicked out of the nest" each year and go to these streams and keep them in check as far as the fish population goes.Mans only hand in anything to do with the reduction of the fish population was to establish the otter colony!
We used to gig suckers in the local streams and take float trips and pothole fishing during low water periiods and all of that is gone now! I can't see anything to indicate intervention by man in loosing this fish population other than the induction of the otter. But then again I've only lived here for 63 years so what would I know!

Wade

Depending on the climate an alligator might help.

I like to watch otters but they are pretty destructive of fish and marine life.

Never have understood why it was OK for animals to kill everything in sight but wrong for humans to kill animals. Humans are part of nature too.