{"id":15098,"date":"2024-10-24T05:54:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T05:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/anglesey-otters-being-killed-by-traffic-increase-charity-warns\/"},"modified":"2024-10-24T05:54:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T05:54:34","slug":"anglesey-otters-being-killed-by-traffic-increase-charity-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/anglesey-otters-being-killed-by-traffic-increase-charity-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglesey otters being killed by traffic increase, charity warns"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"UKUK Wild Otter Trust<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Menai was rescued by volunteers and will only be released into the wild when he is strong enough to survive alone<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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An increase in traffic is a major threat to the restored otter population of Anglesey, a charity has warned.<\/p>\n

The UK Wild Otter Trust has nursed an eight-week-old wild otter cub back to health after its mother was run over, leaving him to fend for himself for several days.<\/p>\n

Otters had been largely absent from the island for much of the 20th Century, but have been making a comeback over the past 40 years.<\/p>\n

But rescue teams warned an increase in traffic – as well as flooding, land development and pollution – were putting them at risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Eurasian otter cub Menai, named after bridge to Anglesey – weighed less than 1kg (2.2lb) when he was spotted by a member of the public and rescued by volunteers.<\/p>\n

Rangers found the cub\u2019s mum dead about a week after rescuing him – Menai’s sister was also found but she could not be saved.<\/p>\n

Dave Webb, founder of the Devon-based UK Wild Otter Trust, said youngsters “absolutely rely” on their mothers’ care and the fact Menai survived was “miraculous”.<\/p>\n

He said the team hoped to release him back into the wild in about a year “when he\u2019s old enough to survive on his own”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The charity launched its Slow Down for Otters campaign last year to address an increasing number of deaths and is having its busiest year since it launched in 1998.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re seeing so many cubs orphaned due to traffic,” said Mr Webb.<\/p>\n

“Last year, 32 cubs came through our doors in total. This year so far we\u2019ve had 31, with another four on the way to the centre this week.<\/p>\n

“We want to raise awareness with the public that there are otters around and to be aware of the habitat you\u2019re driving through, particularly along or across rivers.”<\/p>\n

He urged drivers to be mindful of other wildlife too, including deer, rabbits, badgers and foxes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"UKUK Wild Otter Trust<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The charity says it’s having its busiest year yet, with more than 30 otters seen this year<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Research by Cardiff University, published in 2022<\/a>, found fewer signs of otters on almost all waterways in Wales and across the UK.<\/p>\n

Signs of otters – such as footprints, spraint (droppings) and holts (hiding places) – were spotted at just over 70% of the sites visited across Wales, down 22% since 2010.<\/p>\n

Eleanor Kean, an independent ecologist who led the survey work, said “a little bit of complacency” had developed in recent years when it came to preserving the otter population.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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UK Wild Otter Trust Menai was rescued by volunteers and will only be released into the wild when he is strong enough to survive alone An increase in traffic is a major threat to the restored otter population of Anglesey, a charity has warned. The UK Wild Otter Trust has nursed an eight-week-old wild otter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[6336,3067,3662,325,6337,6338,346],"class_list":["post-15098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wales","tag-anglesey","tag-charity","tag-increase","tag-killed","tag-otters","tag-traffic","tag-warns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15100,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15098\/revisions\/15100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}