Otter back in nature reserve after over 50 years

This 8 November 2016 Dutch video is about an otter; seen for the first time again in over 50 years in the Naardermeer nature reserve.

Translated from RTV NH regional broadcasting corporation in the Netherlands today:

In the Naardermeer for the first time in over fifty years an otter has been seen again.

The animal has been recorded this weekend with a ‘camera trap‘ in the nature reserve. The nature conservation organization Natuurmonumenten is excited about the otter in the oldest protected area in the Netherlands. Especially because the otter was filmed at the wildlife passage between the Naardermeer and the Ankeveen Lakes.

Roadkill

This still relatively new passage [built in 2013] is a water connection under the road. “It is good news that the otter used this corridor, because still too many young otters are killed each year,” said the spokeswoman of Natuurmonumenten.

The otter was reintroduced in the Netherlands in 2002, to the Weerribben and Wieden on the border between Overijssel and Friesland provinces. At present there are about 160 otters in the Netherlands.

That is the 2015 figure; this year the number has grown to 185.

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