Otters?? What can you do?

[BookWorm243]

My grandparents live in Lake City, FL and have 2 man made ponds on there property. So they got some ducks, I know they started out with a good amount but now they just have a small group of 5, i think. They don't have a house for them or anything they just stay on the ponds. Well now they have an otter that has shown up and it has already eaten a duck ( it was a wood duck that had lived with the other ducks for over 6 months ) The other ducks won't go in the ponds, but they are at risk of coyote attacks now. They just want to shoot the otter and be done with it. Is there anything else that can be done, can they actually shoot an Otter?


Thank You

 

[La Mike]

Check with your local WLF but if its eating your ducks you should be able to. Otherwise try and contact your state or local trapper.

 

[aprophet]

by googling "Open water otter sets otter dock" I found some interesting methods

 

[bobbi-j]

They need to check with their local Fish and Game department.

 

[Capvin]

Actually, Florida has a specific hunting season for otter and runs from December to March and you can shoot as many as you want. For an otter that is in a pond that is on your property I am sure that you could shoot it at any time. Otters have gotten a bad reputation in South Florida because there have been numerous otter attacks on humans. A man in a pond came very near to being killed. Otters will remain in an area until they have completely depleted the food and then they will move on. I also would think that there are more then one otter in your pond and they are not that easy to spot and shoot. If it were my pond and it had fish and ducks that were mine and I wanted, I would shoot and/or trap the otters.

 

[mstricer]

Are they sure it wasn't a snapping turtle. I watched them take down a full grown goose one time.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
trapping is easier then waiting to shoot the ones we have Here I normally see Mom and 2-4 young ones