Environment Agency staff are appealing for people to tell them if they find a dead otter so that information can be collected for a national project which is monitoring the health of the population.
The Newcastle-based team collect the bodies of dead otters and send them off to Cardiff University for a post-mortem. This confirms how the otter died and reveals how healthy it was, its diet, and the levels of chemicals in the body.
The post-mortem results are then fed into an Environment Agency database of the species for England and Wales.
An 11-year study by the Environment Agency, which was published in June, showed that otter populations are healthy and are expanding.
The work is still continuing and biodiversity officer Rachael McFarlane is urging people in Northumberland and County Durham to contact her as soon as they spot a dead otter so she can collect the body for analysis.
She said: “Otter populations are growing in the North East, and this is reflected in the number of otter deaths that have been reported to us. The main problem seems to be with young otters that don’t know much about road safety, leaving home and getting run over.
“We rely on people to report dead otters to us, and without this, we wouldn’t be able to undertake this research to increase our knowledge about populations in the North East.â€
Rachael has collected seven dead otters since October last year. They were mostly young males, involved in traffic accidents.
The accidents occur when otters cross roads to either find new territory or because their normal paths are blocked when water levels rise, making bridges and culverts impassable. All deaths reported to the team are plotted on maps to identify where otter blackspots are occurring.
Staff can look at whether it is possible to carry out any improvements to make these areas safer with otter crossing signs, reflectors and otter bridges within the channel.
Otter populations have begun to expand across the country following a decline in numbers between the 1950s and 1980s. The results from the recent health study reinforces the view that one factor behind this recovery may be decreasing levels of organochlorine chemicals (OCs) such as the insecticides, dieldrin and aldrin.
The insecticide was used extensively by farmers but was withdrawn from use from 1962 and banned by 1989 but research shows that it can take up to 25 years for 95 per cent of dieldrin in soil to disappear.
If anyone finds a dead otter in Northumberland or County Durham, they should report it to Environment Agency biodiversity officer Rachael McFarlane on 0191 203 4238.
