CHEYENNE—Merav Ben-David’s request that state lawmakers leave river otters alone stems from her own research.
The Ph.D University of Wyoming professor isn’t certain of why, but her research has found that the semiaquatic mustelids — which were effectively wiped out during the fur-trade era — are struggling to recolonize large swaths of the state, including places like the Big Horn River Basin. In other areas where they do exist, surveys of otter “latrine” sites suggest they’re becoming increasingly seldom-seen.
“In 2021, we had 25% of the otter activity at these latrines compared to what we had a decade ago,” Ben-David told lawmakers, sharing the results of surveys she conducted on the Green River using Wyoming Game and Fish Department funds.
“River otters are slowly clawing their way back,” she added. “Their existence is tenuous, depending on water flow, fish abundance and pollution.”
Ben-David, who twice ran for office as a Democrat, would know, arguably better than anybody else. Introducing herself to members of the Wyoming Legislature’s House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee on Thursday afternoon, she said that she’s been studying the species since 1984 and is considered to be “a world expert” on North American river otters.
The bill that brought Ben-David to the Wyoming Capitol, House Bill 45, “Removing otters as protected animals,” was brought by Andrew Byron, a Republican who represents northern Lincoln County and southern portions of Teton County. The real estate agent and fishing guide conceived the idea, he said, while out wetting a line on Fish Creek, a polluted, nutrient-choked stream in his district where the fishery has struggled mightily. He saw otters. Byron’s observation followed conversations he’d had with a couple constituents who “were having trouble with otters” in non-stocked waters.
‘Trouble with otters’
Other lawmakers share Byron’s concern, or have constituents who do. Co-sponsors to HB 45 include Reps. Dalton Banks of Cowley, Bob Davis of Baggs, Jeremy Haroldson of Wheatland, Mike Schmid of La Barge, JD Williams of Lusk, John Winter of Thermopolis and Sens. Barry Crago of Buffalo, Dan Dockstader of Afton, Ogden Driskill of Devils Tower and Bill Landen of Casper. All are Republicans.
It’s straightforward legislation. House Bill 45 does what its title suggests, and would strike “otters” from a list of species that are “protected animals for purposes of hunting regulations.” Others on the list include black‑footed ferret, fisher, lynx, pika and wolverine. Otters have been protected for nearly three-quarters of a century, testified Wyoming Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce.
“After they were protected in 1953,” Bruce said, “you started to see their population spread.”
The mustelids, she said, started dispersing from Yellowstone National Park, the only part of Wyoming where they’d maintained a foothold. They also started increasing in southern Wyoming, pioneering new habitat along watersheds that transcend the Colorado border.
Bruce spoke in favor of House Bill 45, though not because Game and Fish wants to start a trapping season on the species. The classification change would give authorities more latitude to deal with problem-causing otters, she said, including killing them if needed. The director was hopeful that management flexibility could buy tolerance for a mesocarnivore that’s expanded its range.
“We really want to see otters repopulate to historic [levels],” Bruce said. “Having this tool, in my perspective, allows us to help gain support for more otters.”
State agency support
Calls for otter management aren’t new. After a rare otter attack on tubers in Montana, media sensationalized reports that likened the 20-pound mammals to grizzly bears. The push for management is motivated, at least in part, by competition: Otters eat fish, like trout, that humans like to catch. Otters aren’t the only piscivores to draw similar ire: Outside of Laramie last summer there was a debate over killing pelicans, though that operation is set to end.
Schmid, the co-sponsor from La Barge, and a former Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner, testified to the Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee on Thursday that he’s talked to constituents who’ve found otters in their stocked, private fish ponds.
“They’re having problems with otters to the point where they’re not stocking,” Schmid said.
Under their existing protected status, otters deemed a conflict cannot even be captured for translocation, according to Game and Fish Chief Warden Dan Smith. By default, he said, the species would become “non-game” if lawmakers removed their protected status. That would open the door to moving and killing fish-eating nuisance otters.
“The first step would be to try to relocate them to somewhere else,” Smith said. If that’s not feasible, he said, then they could be killed with the necessary permits.
Ben-David advocated for addressing otter conflict with the tools that are already available. Electric fences “make a huge difference,” she said, citing an experience working on an Alaskan study.
“I’ll be happy to help anybody design those,” Ben-David said.
The otter experts’ plea for continued protections — echoed by several others — didn’t sway lawmakers. Committee member Rep. Bob Wharff, R-Evanston, said he walked into the committee meeting a no vote, but changed his mind after learning that the reclassification essentially just gave managers flexibility. House Bill 45 passed out of committee 8-2.
On Friday, Rep. Karlee Provenza, a Democrat from Laramie, recounted the world’s foremost otter experts’ testimony on the floor of the House of Representatives.
“If the number one scientist that knows what is going on says, ‘No,’ then I would also urge you to vote no on this bill,” Provenza said.
But Schmid, an oil and gas industry businessman, discounted the same scientific evidence from trained ecologists. The experts, he said, are out there “periodically.”
“They’re not out there every day like our landowners and fishing community is,” he said.
Moments later, House Bill 45 passed its first of three floor votes in the Wyoming House in a voice vote where the ayes clearly outnumbered the nos.
Here’s one to add to 1984’s “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”:
“We really want to see otters repopulate to historic [levels],” Bruce said. “Having this tool, in my perspective, allows us to help gain support for more otters.”
In order to be trapped they would need to be classified as a furbearer. The G&F did NOT relinquish management authority over river otters and they can only be legally removed with a special permit.
No one on the legislative committee supported whole scale trapping of otters but the G&F has their hands tied by the protected status. By changing the designation of river otters to nongame, it allows greater flexibility for the G&F to recover river otters throughout the state.
It all depends on which group this animal is placed in in Chapter 52 of Game and Fish regulations.
Mike, the G&F will classify the otter as non-game.
Let’s take a look at this paragraph and see if Mike Koshmrl might have had his tongue planted firmly in cheek when he wrote it: “The real estate agent and fishing guide conceived the idea while out wetting a line on Fish Creek, a polluted, nutrient-choked stream in his district where the fishery has struggled mightily. He saw otters. Byron’s observation followed conversations he’d had with a couple constituents who ‘were having trouble with otters’ in non-stocked waters”.
Fish Creek is polluted and nutrient choked. He saw otters. Ergo, the otters must have pooped enough in the creek to pollute it and fill it with nutrients. Then, he recalls a few conversations with constituents who were troubled by otters. Killer otters like the one in Montana? Or just pesky piscivores who were actually practicing catch-and-eat because that’s what they do. Then, at least ten legislators jumped on the bandwagon, who have no experience in biological studies, backed by our new head of the Game and Fish (of whom I had high hopes). Meanwhile, these newly-minted science experts/legislators ignore the advice of Professor Ben-David, who has been studying these animals for forty-one (41) years.
Boggles the mind.
I think the Wyoming legislature is only interested in making money for themselves . Shame on you for not protecting the animals. They need protection now more than ever. I hope some of the legislators can see through this and vote to protect the animals that God has given us. God Bless
Several years ago, I had the pleasure of watching river otters in two different locations in the Snowy Range. I do not claim to fully understand the objections against them, but I hope that they can be by and large left alone.
Let’s kill cows because they eat grass.
I would rather have otters than river full of fishermen. Actually not stocking fish will help prevent the whirling sickness that comes from fish farms and restocking. The fish will flourish as well from not having fishermen hooking them. But the almighty $$$$ will win out over the otter
Unfortunately not an unusual experience in Legislative Committee meetings in Wyoming . The public and experts all testify against a bill and it sails through the committee – no wonder people have lost confidence in their elected officials and voters have stopped voting.
Andrew Bryon, a real estate agent and fishing guide; you don’t think there’s a personal agenda here, do you? And Ms. Bruce, do you really expect me to believe that WYO G & F wants what’s best for the continued recovery of the species when you’re champing at the bit to have a trapping season, and will step in to help kill problem otters. Problem otters? Problem to whom?
A number of years ago a friend and I were enjoying one of our favorite high altitude areas in the Bighorns when we ran into a man dressed in camo with a rifle, although it was not hunting season. He said he was from “down south” and that he came out every year to shoot marmots as they sunned themselves on the rocks. “I’m feeding the eagles,” he said. We resisted responding that eagles could probably take out a marmot anytime they chose to without his assistance. Then he told us there was nothing left to shoot where he came from so he liked coming to Wyoming every year where you could still find things to shoot and there weren’t any rules. I was shocked and dismayed by this encounter and pledged to myself that I would go to the Game & Fish and look into it, but instead I realized that I am in a small minority of people who choose to honor and respect animals of all species and recognize their place as part of the balance in overall ecosystem health. What I fear most in the bill that removes protections for river otters is the indiscriminate killing of these animals that will take place just ‘cause it’s fun to shoot things. This attitude is far too prevalent in Wyoming (and elsewhere) which is why having protections in place is important, especially, as this article points out, because river otters haven’t fully recovered from the ravishes to their populations from the fur trade. Do we need to rethink the criteria we use for species protection? We certainly need to be aware of our own human nature and the mentality that allows our species to kill other species, especially non-game species, even if we don’t need to in order to live.
Yes, oil/gas businessmen, fishermen, and land owners totally know more than someone who has spent a career studying and understanding otters. Some of these legislators just need to stay quiet. The ignorance abounds with this “special” group.
Thanks for your reporting on this issue. It is obvious that climate and weather will be a contributing factor in how all of our wildlife will continue to be adversely affected.
Today, river otters are listed as a species of least concern with stable populations. River otters go hand-in-hand with healthy waterways. River otters are considered a riparian keystone species. Their impact on Rocky Mountain ecosystems helps to keep other aquatic populations in check. They are a terrific indicator species. River otters let officials know when a waterway is suffering because otters depend on long, contiguous stretches of river with good water quality and high prey biomass. While otters are a robust and adaptable species, their prey species are not. When their ecosystems are impacted by climate change and pollution otters can become impacted as well. Having fished some the blue ribbon fisheries from Kortes dam, stretches of the Platte, the Madison, Yellowstone, the East Fork,and the Green here in Wyoming over the years. In those 60 plus years of drowning worms, attaching Mepps spinners, and eventually woolly buggers, I was fortunate enough to see maybe ten river otters over the years, Just sighting one of these fish hunters in their native environment was more memorable than the actually fishing. There will always be a delicate of balance between animal needs and human needs. Over the years the WGF has served the people well.
Another mammalian competitor. We can’t have that now, eh!
Republicans, in general, disregard science because it doesn’t fit their pre-concieved notions that are frequently based in ignorance and prejudice. They would rather follow anecdotal heresay than scientific facts. Clearly the science says to wait on removing protections, but they would rather follow a fisherman’s tales of otter predation in one locality and remove all protections everywhere. Nonsense. That is short sighted and poor decision making. Perhaps their ire towards otters stems from their abhorance of any regulation because they seem to think species protections threatens them in some way. The small mindedness of Wyoming legislative members makes fear for all Wyoming wildlife not just otters.