Possible Ohio otter trapping season in '05

A trapping season in Ohio for the North American river otter is expected to be proposed for 2005, according to officials from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.
Jamey Graham, a spokesman for the DOW at the District Three office in Akron, said that the season will be proposed during wildlife hearings during the early part of 2005.
"North American river otters have done so well," she said. "We will be proposing regulated trapping with specific sites and bag limits."
She said the specifications for otter trapping would be similar, but not exactly like those set for beaver trapping in Ohio.
In a prepared Power Point presentation sent to the media, the DOW said the reasoning for proposing the trapping of otters included the fact that the animals were now abundant.
Regulated trapping does not cause wildlife to become endangered, information in the DOW presentation indicated.
Furthermore, the DOW said, trapping is managed through scientifically based regulations that are strictly enforced by wildlife officers.
The Division of Wildlife reviews and develops rules, regulations, education programs, and capture methods to ensure that trapping is humane, the DOW information said.
Program began in '80s
The DOW began reintroducing river otters into Ohio in the late 1980s. Unregulated trapping and increased pollution of rivers led to the elimination of otters from the state by the mid-1800s, Ohio wildlife officials said.
It was an increase in the beaver population that gave state wildlife experts the idea to try to let the otters make a comeback here.
The DOW began scouting for adequate habitat in the mid-1980s, and the first of a number of otters were released during Christmas week in 1986.
Of the release sites where otters were placed, the Grand River Wildlife Area received 31 males and 17 females between 1986 and 1990; Killbuck Creek Wildlife Area got 15 males and eight females in 1991; Stillwater Creek received 15 males and 11 females in 1992; and the Little Muskingum River area was seeded with 15 males and 10 females in 1993.
The DOW said that their most recent observations have indicated that river otters have expanded their range from the initial release sites to include more than two-thirds of Ohio's watersheds. They said, however, that the number of otters occupying each watershed is still quite variable across the state.
The DOW said the information was an indication that otters are doing extremely well in expanding their range across Ohio.
Keith Daniels, education coordinator for the Ohio State Trappers Association, said the decision to establish a season for ottter trapping was the logical next step in the program.
"With the population spread as it has and with the amount of road kills and the number of incidential trapping in beaver traps and the like, it is obvious the population is at the point where it needs control on a limited basis."
Daniels said that OSTA supported the DOW's reintroduction program not for the fact that a trapping season could ever be established but rather because diversity in any animal population is a good thing.
Otter sources
Ohio wildlife biologists monitored otter populations using several methods, including an annual snow track survey by helicopter. State officials said that biologists also examined carcasses of otters accidentally killed on roads to gather important information on age, sex ratios and signs of reproduction. Bridge surveys were also conducted throughout eastern Ohio to examine the degree in which otters were occupying watersheds.
Otter observations were recorded and used to build a database to help understand the growth and range of otters in Ohio. Most of the information on the expanding otter population comes from Ohio residents who report otter observations.
Some of the information gathered on the otters also came from transmitters that were placed inside the animals.
Several sources were used for acquiring the otters. Before the Louisiana trade, a number of animals came from Arkansas, but those were not in as good a health as the Louisiana otters, and many did not survive, state officials have said.
Helping to fund the program at that time were donations to the state's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program. This program raises funds through income tax check-offs and other sources. In fact, in 1990, a local class of gifted students raised $3,500 from the sale of T-shirts and donated the proceeds.
The animals had been under protection since the beginning of the program to allow them to get a foothold and to propagate. At that time of the program, state officials thought it would be many years before the otter was ready to be hunted in Ohio.
Numbers have grown
However, in the nearly 20 years since the start of the releases, the animals have grown to more than 4,000 in number, sufficient for a limited trapping season, according to state officials.
To establish the season, state officials said they would adhere to science-based management. That means strict regulations would be used including mandatory trapper education, mandatory licensing, mandatory permission to trap on private land, restrictions on trap types and locations and restrictions on season length and dates.
The success of the otter program recalls the success the state has had in similar programs such as those involving wild turkey and the ringneck pheasant. The state's turkey program took about 30 years and the pheasant program took nearly 25 to reach success.
braun@vindy.com