A living otter has been observed once before in the water board’s work area: in 2022 in Waterland. But they are also found in other places in North Holland. Including in the Naardermeer and at it Diemerpark traces have been found.
And a paw print has already been found near the Afsluitdijk, but also a dead otter near Volendam. “You always hope that an otter will show up and that makes this a very nice, unique sighting. They are really an addition to our area.”
Reward for water management
“You can call it a pat on the back for our work. An otter has a number of wishes: the water quality must be good, there must be sufficient fish and the banks must be easily accessible and offer sufficient variation in vegetation and shelter.”
“And we are also working on those things, such as more nature-friendly banks and fish-passable pumping stations and locks. Fish is really his main menu, but sometimes also water birds and they have started to learn to eat crayfish. The latter is of course completely nice, because that is an exotic that we want to get rid of.”
Traffic and the wolf
According to the ecologist, the otter has almost no natural enemies. “They are almost at the top of the food chain. Traffic is their biggest danger. The number one cause of death is being hit by a car. But I also read somewhere that wolves occasionally eat otters, but there is no evidence of that in the Netherlands as far as I can tell.” know.”