A Collaborative Approach
The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) has a vast geographical range from Ireland in the west, through Europe and Asia and into North Africa. This looks very encouraging until you realise that very little is known about the otters in Africa and almost all of Asia. We also know that otters declined drastically in western Europe in the mid 20th century, largely due to pollution from pesticides and hunting. Since then there have been definite improvements with regards to pollution and hunting has been banned and this is therefore being hailed as a good news story for otters. But it is not that simple. There are still threats to otters from illegal hunting, conflicts with fishermen, disturbance, pollution, habitat loss, etc. There are some wonderful new records of the species in Nepal, India and Bhutan, but still information is very restricted and few people are working on otters.
International Otter Survival Fund is therefore holding a workshop to bring people together either in person or on Zoom from throughout their worldwide range to share experience, data, threats to otters and success stories. A network will be formed to continue collaboration of information, techniques, education material, etc and enable more realistic and achievable conservation progammes.
Venue: Colchester Zoo
Date: 17-20 November 2025
To register your interest in attending the workshop please complete the booking form
You can find out more about IOSF on the website.