The British otter is alive and well, thanks to people such as Philip and Jeanne Wayre, who founded the Otter Trust almost 20 years ago. "From 1950 to 1970, the otter population crashed," Mr Wayre says. "Otters had been common in Norfolk, but their numbers dropped to about 30."
The near demise of the British otter is attributable to poisonous pesticides and the destruction of habitats, hallmarks of intensive farming. Mr Wayre, aged 69, was alerted to the plight of otters in the early Sixties while making a television film of his largely autobiographical book, "Wind in the Reeds", based on his interest in natural history. "I needed British otters for the film and advertised for cubs, offering ú50 for each one. It was a lot of money at the time, but in the end I had to import otters from America."
Traps employed to reduce the coypu population in East Anglia occasionally snared an otter, which was invariably shot and its pelt sold for ú5. "So I said I would pay ú10 for every live otter - most of which I released, although I kept some for breeding," he says.
In 1972 he and his wife established the Otter Trust at what was originally a small marsh farm near Bungay, Suffolk. The trust, which now has 15,000 members paying an annual ú15 subscription, is a registered charity for the conservation of otters worldwide, with the emphasis on the British otter. The smaller, Asian short-clawed otter is also kept by the trust, because it is people-friendly, and diurnal. The bonding instincts of the short-clawed otters are strong, with pairs staying together. Except for mating, however, the British otter is solitary: the mere proximity of the male may cause the female to eat her cubs.
There are now about 50 otters at Bungay, and a parallel breeding programme at the trust's Cornwall branch, opened in 1986; Mr Wayre hopes another will open in Yorkshire next year.
Areas considered for recent releases include the river Deben in Suffolk, the Derwent in Yorkshire, the Stour in Dorset and a tributary of the Bristol Avon.
The British otter falls a long way short of its popular, playful image. Mr Wayre holds up a little finger. "Otters bite and here's one little finger without an end joint to prove it," he says. "Aristotle said an otter wouldn't let go until it heard the bone crunch, and believe me, Aristotle knew his natural history."
