Recent Records of the River Otter from Nebraska

Abstract

The river otter (Lutra canadensis) once was common along waterways in Nebraska (Jones, 1964), but evidently was extirpated from the state in the early part of this century. Pressure from trapping, pollution of streams, and destruction of original stream-side habitats . .. were some of the reasons thought to have contributed to the demise of the otter in Nebraska according to Jones (1964). The most recently taken specimen examined by him from the state was obtained in 1916, although Bowles (1975) reported a specimen that was obtained in the Missouri River drainage in western lowa in 1929. On 7 November 1977, a raccoon trapper took a female otter in a steel trap near Sappa Creek, a tributary of the Republican River, at a place 61/2 mi. S and 41/2 mi. W Beaver City, Furnas County, Nebraska. The animal, which was in good condition, weighed 18.6 pounds and had a total length of 46 inches. It currently is in the possession of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Ralph Velich, a commercial taxidermist in Omaha, reported to us (pers. comm.) that an otter of unknown sex was killed on 18 December 1964 by dogs of a hunter in pursuit of raccoons along the south bank of the Platte River, not far from its confluence with the Missouri, 4 mi. W Louisville, Cass County, Nebraska. The tanned and stretched skin of this specimen measured 52 inches in length according to Velich. It is noteworthy, too, that Bowles (1975) reported a specimen taken in 1969 near Council Bluffs, lowa, just across the Missouri River from Nebraska, and considered that L. canadensis had redestablished itself along the southern part of the Missouri in that state. No doubt the Misouri River has been the avenue for recent dispersal of otters to eastern Nebraska and probably also for individuals that now may occur in other parts of the state (all river systems in Nebraska ultimately reach the Missouri). It is doubtful that otters recently transplanted in the mountains of Colorado by the Colorado Department of Game and Fish would emig rate to Nebraska, but the potentiality for them to do so does exist along the South Platte River and its tributaries. In any event, the records reported here and persistent reports of obser\/ations of otters elsewhere in eastern Nebraska and adjacent lowa suggest that the species currently is reinvading at least part of its former range in this region.