June 2007 - Volume 68, Issue 6
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Missouri's River Otter Saga
We went from too few to too many otters in just 20 years.
Going from zero to 60 in less than 5 seconds is fast. So is going from 50 to more than 15,000 in about 20 years. Maybe it’s too fast.
We may have broken the speed limit in Missouri with our river otter restoration program. In 1980, we estimated that only 35 to 70 otters survived in the few remnant swamps and wetlands in Missouri’s Bootheel region. Their numbers had not changed in more than 50 years. Since we began stocking the animals, their population has peaked at more than 15,000.
Bring ’em back to Missouri
The first batch came from Louisiana in 1982. We fitted them with radio-implants, so we could track them, and set them loose in some of Missouri’s finest wetlands in and around Chariton County in north-central Missouri. Knowing the quality of the wetlands, we weren’t completely surprised when, in a few short generations, they made hundreds of new otters that spread out into the adjacent duck clubs and borrow ditches.
Missouri has few such wetlands, so the real test was to see if otters could once again exist in other habitats. We wanted to establish otter populations along Missouri’s rivers and streams.
Or, so we thought.
During an 11-year program, we released 845 otters, setting them free in 43 streams in 35 counties. We traded some of our wild turkeys for wild-caught Cajun otters—the same subspecies that once existed here.
About This Article
Author
DAVE HAMILTON is a resource scientist with
the Department of Conservation in Columbia.
He studies a variety of wildlife, some of which
have made tremendous comebacks, including
river otters, bobcats and black bears. He enjoys
hunting with his wife, Sue, and family at their
cabin in northern Missouri.
