Hunting statistics of Lutra lutra in the Bohemian Lands from the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century (Carnivora: Mustelidae)

Abstract

The presence of the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) in the wild of the Czech Republic has long been the subject of discussions between the nature conservation on the one hand and the production and sport fishermen on the other. The methodology of obtaining data on the otter abundance is one of the controversial issues as estimates of numbers presented by each party are vastly different, with nature conservationists reporting significantly lower numbers of otters than the fishermen. Therefore, this paper presents statistically recorded data on the development of harvest from the past times, obtained from both published and unpublished sources. The numbers of catches at least indicate the size of the former population and its changes.