Land Otter Sighting???

[EJ Swanny]

We live within site of the water, probably 1/4 mile away, and way up a hill, with two rows of houses in front of us (the water-front houses, the above the hill houses, than us). We have a small stream next to out house, but it is not running hard right now. When I watch our video, it sure looks like a big ass otter to me. Never thought I'd see an otter this far away from the water. I know there are two types, one that stays mostly in the water, and one that stays mostly on land...been living in this area for 50+ years, never seen a land or sea otter....weird.

https://ring.com/share/cf1b505b-0ecb-4f50-98cc-82e497377bf5

It's a hefty guy, probably looking for a mate.......it is that time. Not sure what to think, but I'm sure it's an otter....thoughts???

 

[Captain Decent]

Definitely a river otter. Hard to say what he’s up to or where he’s going.

 

[frijolito]

river otter also. they wil travel miles for whatever it is they want. personally i hate the things. seen some aggressive behavior and Ive came very very close to shooting. fuggem. they will smell your trout pond from a county away and come devastate it

 

[Wild Bill]

River otters are pretty comfortable on land and will easily travel that far for food. Anybody near with a Koi or trout pond on their property? My neighbors lost most of their Koi over a couple days and had me over to help figure it out. I looked at the area and thought I could make out an otter print in the mud. A couple nights later I saw a motion light come on at their place and and looked out just in time to see the little booger loping along in front of their garage.

 

[Whalebreath]

river otter also. they wil travel miles for whatever it is they want. .....they will smell your trout pond from a county away and come devastate it

That's exactly what they did in downtown Vancouver scaled a 12' wall to eat expensive Carp out of a pond in a Chinatown garden.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chinatown-otter-sun-yat-sen-garden-koi-fish-1.4912942

 

[wdlfbio]

River otters can cover some serious ground when exploring. Not surprising.

 

[linestripper]

little bastards will wipe a trout pond in one night. walk miles to do it.

 

[troller w]

Where is your fish pellet stash . They love those things. They ate a half tote of them at my friend’s property last year before he noticed.

 

[Siv]

Swanny, when I lived in Des Moines a few miles up the road from you the otters got into our neighbors basement while she was away for 5 months teaching in Brazil. Wrecked the place, it stunk of rotten fish/crab and she spent a lot of $ getting it professionally remediated. She was at least a 1/4 mile from the sound and across a fairly busy street. They travel.

 

[Tish]

River otters are pretty comfortable on land and will easily travel that far for food. Anybody near with a Koi or trout pond on their property? My neighbors lost most of their Koi over a couple days and had me over to help figure it out. I looked at the area and thought I could make out an otter print in the mud. A couple nights later I saw a motion light come on at their place and and looked out just in time to see the little booger loping along in front of their garage.

Damn, same exact thing happened to my neighbors and their koi pond... we are about .5 miles from the Sound and have a creek running through our backyard that runs straight to it. They had been fighting off birds and raccoons for years with netting and stuff like that, one night of river otter wiped their pond out completely.

 

[Tunahead]

Looking for grub and mate no doubt... COOL

 

[Madmax22]

Is that a PNW rat or a otter?

 

[EJ Swanny]

Where is your fish pellet stash . They love those things. They ate a half tote of them at my friend’s property last year before he noticed.

Yeah - Good thinking, luckily behind a very heavy garage door. At Orcas we kept them on the deck, and tried to barricade them, and put weights on the lid. The damn raccoons would find a way in them sometimes. Also, the little sea-otters (compared to that brute) would sniff them out. I've seen on TV those river otters can get HUGE, especially in South America, like 6' long.

If they don't spend time in the sound, and no rivers around, they must just scavenge...garbage cans, ponds, etc.....pretty resourceful, though damaging..

 

[fishbadger]

They are evil necrophiliac mf'ers. . .beware!!

Fifty shades of fur? Exposing the dark side of a sea otter’s sex life (with video)

Whiskers wasn’t your average sea otter. Rather than hang out with his own kind off Nootka Island on the west coast of Vancouver Island, he would often come…

vancouversun.com

 

[marlyn]

They are evil necrophiliac mf'ers. . .beware!!

Fifty shades of fur? Exposing the dark side of a sea otter’s sex life (with video)

Whiskers wasn’t your average sea otter. Rather than hang out with his own kind off Nootka Island on the west coast of Vancouver Island, he would often come…

vancouversun.com

I talked to a deckhand years ago in morro bay who had a similar story of otters doing the same to a dock cat they knocked into the water,I ohnestly thought they were just bullshitting me!

 

[fishbadger]

I talked to a deckhand years ago in morro bay who had a similar story of otters doing the same to a dock cat they knocked into the water,I ohnestly thought they were just bullshitting me!

They are horrible creatures. Spread the word! They have strong PR, everybody thinks they're cute, and I acknowledge their value to the ecosystem, helping to preserve kelp forests and all. . .but they are evil!
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[Mr. Doodles]

Yeah - Good thinking, luckily behind a very heavy garage door. At Orcas we kept them on the deck, and tried to barricade them, and put weights on the lid. The damn raccoons would find a way in them sometimes. Also, the little sea-otters (compared to that brute) would sniff them out. I've seen on TV those river otters can get HUGE, especially in South America, like 6' long.

If they don't spend time in the sound, and no rivers around, they must just scavenge...garbage cans, ponds, etc.....pretty resourceful, though damaging..

Otters are well known around everyone in our neighborhood at Redondo have seen them many times.
They hang out arou d all of the drainage streams flowing into the salt must be at least 5 just into Redondo bay maybe more.