A Skye-based charity is to lead attempts to save China’s otters.
The International Otter Survival Fund will go the Far East country next month to stage a training workshop to champion otters and wetlands conservation.
Otters are one of Asia’s most overlooked mammals and yet they are at the forefront of the illegal wildlife trade with tigers and leopards – for every tiger skin found there are at least 10 otter skins.
Asian otter populations and their wetland habitats are in sharp decline, and one of the main reasons is lack of awareness, which leads to a lack of funding for their conservation.
IOSF is at the frontier of otter conservation and was set up to protect and help the 13 species of otter worldwide, through a combination of compassion and science.
It has already organised similar training workshops in Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Africa and the training in China is a first.in China will be provided for 30 participants and funding has been raised to make it a regional event.
Topics covered in Zhuhai, from September 5-10 September, will include identification, ecology, distribution, field signs, threats – especially from the illegal wildlife trade.
Instructors all have several years’ experience in otter work, and have been involved in previous workshops.
A Chinese Otter Network will be formed to link with the Asian Otter Conservation network to create a launchpad of collaboration and enable realistic and practical conservation programmes are three species of otter in China, all of which are seriously declining in number.
According to Wetlands International China, long term monitoring of otters in the Changbaishan Mountain nature reserve has shown that the population has declined by over 90%.
This is largely due to overharvesting, habitat destruction, water pollution, and lack of prey availability. China no longer allows otter hunting and since 1995 they have been listed as Category II of National Protected Animals.
Dr Paul Yoxon, head of operations at IOSF said “The aim of the Year of the Otter is to draw attention to the plight of the world’s otters and to raise funds for their conservation.
“The training workshop in China is a great opportunity to draw the attention of the public in that country to the drastic situation of otters there. “In the last 50 years China has lost half of its wetlands and 80% of the mangroves have been destroyed in the last 40 years.
“By showing the people of China the importance of otters to these ecosystems we can encourage them to be concerned for their conservation which will then have an impact on the illegal wildlife trade.”
