Texas River Otters Revisited
Texas River Otter
This is Passport to Texas
A few months ago we aired a program about Texas river otters with biologist Gary Calkins. At the time, he told us few people ever get to see otters…but then…
With the awareness now from the program, people are talking about it. And so, we’re getting to hear what they’re seeing.
What you’re seeing and telling us about, are river otters… a lot of them it seems…and some in unexpected places.
This has been awesome. We found out about otters a lot further west and further north than we really had an idea that there were good populations. So it’s been really interesting.
Calkins says having extra sets of eyes looking for otters has been a boon to his research.
I was very surprised, but also pretty psyched. It was really neat to start getting some feedback from the radio program on something that we had been trying to do other ways and hadn’t been able to get there.
Researchers are interested in Texas river otters for more than their playful personalities.
They’re kind of an indicator species of how healthy our environment is. So, by trying to get a handle on how their population’s doing, it kind of tells us how our environment is doing overall.
If you spot an otter…on land or water…tell us about it …you know you ought to…at passporttotexas.org.
The Wildlife restoration program supports our series…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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December 1st, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I have seen them on Lake o the Pines all over the place.so cool
December 1st, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I had 1 of them try to steal my fish @ the spillway on lake o the pines.I ran it off then it just sat on the hill and watched
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I saw a small river otter this morning, 12/02/09, in lake Bob Sandlin in NE TX.
December 29th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
My wife and I encountered an otter swimming leisurely around in Ratcliff Lake in the Davy Crockett National Forest this morning.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I believe I saw one in our lake in Hopkins county, on 12/29. The lake is just off of a creek
January 29th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
I finally saw my first River Otter in my 53 years of life. It was a very large Otter and was running across the lawn at my place of work. The amazing part of this sighting is that the only water nearby is several drainage ditches in an industrial area approx. 4 miles south of downtown Houston. Amazing!
May 15th, 2014 at 10:51 pm
In the last couple of years, I’ve seen many otters in the creek behind my parents house in Houston. The creek feeds into Buffalo Baylou. The otters are always together as a family an I’ve only ever seen them in the evenings. They are very very cute! Like playful puppies! Growing up there as a kid, I never saw them. They must be making a comeback!