Director of fishes: Best option for river otters in Oak Harbor is relocation

Many think they’re cute, but in one Washington town their good looks can’t make up for the smell. River otters have become a nuisance to Oak Harbor.

“[River Otters are] primarily fish eaters. They eat about 10-12 percent of their body weight every day. So unlike a dog, as the story said, their feces are quite large,” explained George Parsons, the director of fishes at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on Seattle’s Morning News.

KING 5 reported the complaints – river otter “plops” as they’re called, are staining decks, and boats, as the otters often climb inside crafts to create their own “poop deck.” As Parsons explained, with a diet like theirs it’s no surprise their plops put doggie droppings to shame.

The animals are accused of fouling the city’s marina and incurring loads of clean-up costs.

The river otters aren’t a protected species, unlike their sea otter brothers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture usually deals with problems like over-population, and it’s thinking about killing them, as opposed to relocating them.

“It’s a very sad story,” said Parsons. He saw a similar situation happen in Alaska, in regards to the sea lion population at a rehabilitation center. They ended up bringing some of those sea lions to Shedd.

KING 5 reported that as people learned about the possible plan to kill the unprotected animals, the public’s sentiment started leaning towards the otter’s livelihood.

“At all costs, the best thing to do is actually to relocate [the river otter.] If that’s financially unfeasible or there is just way too many of them, then probably the best way to go about it is euthanasia.”