NEW ULM - River otters, those playful creatures sometimes known for their child-like personalities, are the subject of a public meeting to be held at 6:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 9 at the Granite Falls Kilowatt Center.
Feelings on the subject of allowing them to be trapped in the Minnesota River Watershed and Southwest Minnesota run from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Currently, river otters may only be trapped in other parts of the state.
"We have river otters in the Minnesota River but there are not a lot of them," said Ken Varland of the New Ulm DNR Southern Division Wildlife Manager.
"People have reported seeing them in Swan Lake and other nearby waterways," he added.
In its recently-released Minnesota River Trends report, the Water Resource Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato estimated 11,000 otters in Minnesota, mostly in the northern half of the state.
The DNR estimated about 2,000 river otters are trapped each year.
In 1977, the DNR mandated otter pelt registration after the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) ruled them an endangered species worldwide.
Montevideo-based Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) Executive Director Patrick Moore said it is often the highlight of a river trip to see one otter in the course of a day's paddle.
"As it stands now, otter sightings are too few and far between for us to want to see an open season on them in this area. We aren't against trapping. Many of our members, hunt, fish, and trap," Moore added. "We would like to see evidence from the DNR that indicates (otter) population is stable and could withstand an influx of trappers from up north who might travel to this area to run a long trap line to get otters. They can bring up to $300 each if they are properly tanned and processed."
Scott Sparlin of New Ulm, Executive Director of the Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River (CCMR) said otter could be live-trapped and transported from places they may overpopulate and taken to places where there are fewer of them.
"That seems like a win-win situation for everybody," Sparlin added.
Francis Rieger of R&R Bait Bait & Tackle of New Ulm, took a dim view of any otter trapping in this area.
"The DNR has meetings like this every few years," Rieger said. "There are some otters around but not enough to trap. They run in pairs. If you split them, it may take years for them to get together again. It just doesn't make sense to me to trap them. Not even a little."
An area trapping enthusiast, who asked to remain anonymous, said he would prefer otters be trapped if there are enough in the area.
"Otters are usually accidentally trapped when people trapping beaver or other water animals," he added. "Trappers must turn them over to the DNR according to law."
According to the DNR website, adult river otters are about 4 feet long and weigh 20 to 30 pounds. They swim with their head above water.
They eat small aquatic organisms like fish, clams, muskrats and turtles.
Very few predators can catch an otter in the water, but on land, they can be killed by bobcats, coyotes and wolves.
For more information, visit www.dnr.state.mn.us
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
