The Eurasian otter underwent a severe decline in the UK due to pollution, habitat loss and persecution, becoming extinct in parts of England. However, bans on pesticides, legal protection provided by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), improvements in water quality and targeted conservation effort have led to the slow return of the otter to many counties, including Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

Staff at the University of Sheffield are appealing for donations to help fund the monitoring and study of otters in Sheffield and the Peak District.

Funds will be used for:

• Field equipment for surveying and montoring otters

• Presenting talks & creating displays to share knowledge of otters & sharing video footage
  

• Identifying potential hazards, and barriers to connectivity

• Detecting landscape factors & drivers of seasonal movements, to investigate potential habitat improvements

• Sharing the results of our DNA-based otter study with the public. This involves creating genetic profiles from DNA extracted from otter droppings (spraint) to identify sexes and numbers of otter individuals in the region.

Visit our website to learn more about our work and the aims of this our DNA study =

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/molecol/deborah-dawson/sheffieldotterstudy

Our first footage of otter in the Peak District = 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMz6kW0J48I

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