The otter is not only making a comeback, it is apparently learning to adapt to city life.
A survey by Britain's wildlife trusts has found that otters are starting to use waterways in towns and cities throughout Britain and Ireland. They have been seen in 100 urban centres, including Birmingham, Leeds,Bristol, Newcastle upon Tyne, Glasgow and Cardiff.
Conservationists are delighted and have suggested that future building projects should incorporate otter-friendly features, such as resting ledges under bridge arches.
Three developments seem to have coincided to bring the otter to town. The first is the recovery of the otter population, after the terrible crash in the late 1950s.
The otter declined dramatically from about 1957, largely because of the use of organochlorine pesticides in agriculture, which washed into rivers and built up in the animals' tissues. By the 1970s otters had been wiped out in most of lowland England.
But the pesticides were eventually banned, and from its strongholds in the West Country and Wales the otter has made a startling comeback, returning to many rivers where it was once familiar.
The second reason for the otter's return is the national clean-up of waterways. Britain's rivers and canals are purer than at any time since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, says the British Environment Agency.
The third factor is probably the urban regeneration movement of the past two decades, which has led to greater appreciation of water features in city centres. River banks and old canals are no longer merely graveyards for shopping trolleys but attractive aspects of urban developments.
But problems remain. The urban otter faces all the hazards of the urban environment, including lack of secure places and road deaths. It is this that has led the Wildlife Trusts partnership to call for local planning authorities and developers to consider the needs of the otter when building along urban waterways.
