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25th May 2020
Categories: Visitor News
World Otter Day is celebrated across the globe every year on 27th May in order to raise awareness of the dangerous faced by these wonderful creatures and to educate people on how to help protect their natural habitats. As one of literature’s most famous otters is from Devon and otters have been known to frequent many of the region’s river areas, here are some facts about Tarka and his fellow otters.
Sadly, many of the events that were planned in the region for World Otter Day have had to be cancelled or postponed, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still celebrate these marvellous creatures!
Tarka and the other otters you can find in the UK are European Otters and are part of the mistelid family, of which there are seven different species living in the wild in the British Isles. Otters looked like they were going to become extinct in the UK back in the 1950s but thanks to a ban on hunting and a number of reintroduction programmes, there are now more of them in British rivers than ever before.
Image: The Tarka the Otter statue in Bideford, from Tarka Diver Training on Instagram.
Tarka the Otter’s adventure takes place in North Devon and many of the places along the Tarka Trail which is named after him features the places that he journeys around in the book. There are otters that have been spotted around the River Torridge which can be accessed via the Tarka Trail, that’s not the only place they’ve been seen though. Otters can be found in all of Devon’s rivers including the River axe, the River Exe and even in places like Exeter. In fact, Cricklepit Mill is one of the best places in to spot otters, which is in the heart of Exeter city centre.
If you want to go out looking for otters, there are some things you need to remember. Firstly, they are wild animals and are very elusive, the best chance you have of seeing one is to be very quiet, very still and very patient. If you do see one, do not approach it, merely enjoy it from afar.
Want to find out more about Otters and how you can help keep them safe? Visit https://www.otter.org/
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