otters

I can't be sure but I would estimate they can get to 30-40#. So I Googled and apparantly the upper weight is about 30# but that is still a good size animal.

These guys play too and are extremely agile, fabulous swimmers.

There was a story hit the local papers last year about a woman attacked by one of these playfull otters. She was bitten fairly severely. Cloverdale woman recovering from terrifying otter attack - BC Local News

The otters were likely protecting either pups, or territory.

There are other stories. The attacks seem to be quite rare but nonetheless these otters can be threatening, cute or not.

At our club we had a group of otters under the dock. They did threaten my wife and several other people, summer 2013. Maybe again pups however none of us saw any in the area. They were gone this last summer, 2014. Maybe the numbers of people persuaded them to find another home.

A sailboat at the end of the dock we were on in Anacortes had a real problem with them. They heard that the otters didn't like "Irish Spring" scented soap. They used quite a bit of it. I never got the full report but it might have helped. The whole dock end smelled like it - could have been annoying but I kept remembering the pretty lasses in the old commercials

Boont Boater said:

A sailboat at the end of the dock we were on in Anacortes had a real problem with them. They heard that the otters didn't like "Irish Spring" scented soap. They used quite a bit of it. I never got the full report but it might have helped. The whole dock end smelled like it - could have been annoying but I kept remembering the pretty lasses in the old commercials

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Like this?

Delfin said:

Why they poop on the docklines is a mystery to me, but they do

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My neighbor has a lot of trouble with them. But he likes to coil his line ends on the dock for that yachty look. Apparently, the otters like it too. . draws them like a dog to a fire hydrant!!

It's better to wrap the tails back up the dock line to the boat.

River Otters also frequent Discovery Harbour Marina in Campbell River. Although they don't seem to be a problem on the boats themselves, they do leave deposits on the docks.

The real problem, at least for me, is walking the docks at night. A quiet walk can instantly reach heart attack levels when the startled otters suddenly thrash about in the water right beside you.

The crap on the docks is not necessarily all Otter crap...

As a live aboard I notice walking the pup around the docks she will scent on the otters hiding place. Head back with a pike pole and bug the **** out of them, disturb them. Usually takes a couple of trips by for the end result. No intent to hurt just bug em a bit. They move on no harm.


Works for me.

Al,

River otters are legal tender in the fur business. Get your trapping license and have at it. I have several river otter pelts at home and their fur is really nice.

Tom

Tom- Better than that, In Alaska when a resident makes it to 60 years of age we receive free hunting/fishing licence along with FREE TRAPPING licence.(Wife and I) Yes I have given that thought however the investment for traps, handling the buggers if caught, and tanning the hides all is damn more that this senior desires to undertake. O- we receive a free auto licence (wife and I). All this said as the price of oil drops lower than whale (Otter?) poop. which may have a full review of all the "Freebies" We will stand by. Thanks for the thought
Al

River otters are not protected in washington..
I can confirm they hate being hosed with a high pressure nozzle..
I absolutely detest river otters, sea otters are really cool though.
My family named our Ocean Alexander "Otter"..
I lost the debate due to being out numbered.

Go figure,

Hollywood

OFB,

Thanks, that is a good idea.

hollywood8118 said:

River otters are not protected in washington..
I can confirm they hate being hosed with a high pressure nozzle..
I absolutely detest river otters, sea otters are really cool though.
My family named our Ocean Alexander "Otter"..
I lost the debate due to being out numbered.

Go figure,

Hollywood

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I perfectly understand why they would want to name the boat Otter after viewing this:


Kind of brings tears to my eyes.

I had a friend in Port Townsend who was having trouble with Otters on his sailboat, especially in winter when it was covered for weeks at a time. His solution was to hang small bottles of Piss on his lifelines. Three on each side. He used those little four once juice bottles. Problem solved.

When I was the security guard in my marina, people were always crying about the risk from raccoons. Since there is no getting rid of them permanently, because they eat the mussels that grow on the docks, I would find the places they were going, or the places they were hiding on the docks and pee on their dens. That seemed to keep them away for a few weeks at least.

Alameda Marina last year:

Electric fence units can control almost anything,humans ,elephants dingoes,even flies.
You can use a mesh and hot wire or pos and neg wires.The critters just have come into contact with pos and neg at the same time.

tpbrady said:

Al,

River otters are legal tender in the fur business. Get your trapping license and have at it. I have several river otter pelts at home and their fur is really nice.

Tom

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I guess if you think it's cool to deprive an otter of the rest of its life because it poops on your dock lines that's fine.

Personally, I just wash off the dock lines and let the otter carry on living.

Marin said:

I guess if you think it's cool to deprive an otter of the rest of its life because it poops on your dock lines that's fine.

Personally, I just wash off the dock lines and let the otter carry on living.

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habitat conditions

Not to be a bummer, but none of the solutions will work for long so long as there are river otters, because marinas and docks create ideal river otter habitat: mussels and other edible stuff on the pilings, docks that provide overhead protection from osprey and eagle for fish, docks and boats that are better than riverbanks for sunning and tearing apart food they've caught. If you provide the right habitat, wildlife will come. It's pretty much a rule in wildlife management circles. Food and shelter = habitat.
We have a similar problem with deer here in northeast Pennsylvania: One-acre wooded subdivisions extending for hundreds of acres house incredible numbers of deer. In addition to a variety of foods from homeowners trying to grow flowers and shrubs, the housing density precludes the only deer predators of any consequence, human hunters. The deer are as tame as cattle and drive people who insist on having deer-friendly shrubs nuts. They also cause quite a few accidents and keep more than the normal number of auto body shops in business. The scat, since they are vegetarian, isn't a problem like the scales, bones, hair and stench you get from otters, though.
I think the solution to the otter problem may be learning to live with them, since they've already adapted to living with us.

Caveat: Trapping pressure can thin a population down across a region, but in the absence of high fur prices, that's not going to happen. Hiring a nuisance trapper will be expensive and will just create a small vacuum more otters will move into.

Info: River Otters - Living with Wildlife | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

Marin said:

I guess if you think it's cool to deprive an otter of the rest of its life because it poops on your dock lines that's fine.

Personally, I just wash off the dock lines and let the otter carry on living.

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Electric horse fencing is non-lethal. Over many years of owning horses, I have touched the fence a few times. You just get a zap that makes you not want to touch it. Same with the otters. They soon learn to avoid the dock where they get a little zap. I see no need to do anything more than discourage them from coming up on the dock.

markpierce said:

Thank goodness, rats (meaning real rats) aren't protected here as I've poisoned and shot them with a pistol (non-USA citizens chew your hearts out) because they munch and poop in/through my home.


CCI® Shot Shells .22 LR #12 20 rounds - 9553, .22lr Ammo at Sportsman's Guide

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There has been some advocation here toward obtaining ones trapping licence. oddly enough here in Canada if you want to carry a handgun, you need to obtain a prospector's licence. Go figure.

The fur looks much better while still on the live otter.
Easy for us though, we don`t have them crapping and fornicating on our boats.

BruceK said:

The fur looks much better while still on the live otter.
Easy for us though, we don`t have them crapping and fornicating on our boats.

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They are pretty cute, but you should see my neighbour's docklines. He has no fancy coils of rope or anything like that, just a normal tie-up. The lines are heaped high with otter scat right on top of the dock cleats. I get it that they come up on the dock and treat it like a log. The only otter crap in the whole boatshed is on the concrete walk in front of his boat, and ALL OVER his dock cleats. Not sure that you could call this malicious, but it is a little puzzling. Unfortunately, hosing off the lines is not an option. The water has been shut off for a few weeks now as we endure the winter deep freeze. Not expecting water until March. It'll be interesting to see how high the sh*t gets before the water comes back on. I think I am going to have to take a bucket down to the shed and dip some bucketfulls to clean it up.

I'm no expert on poo, but I would have to think that otter poo is at least a 9 out of 10 on the disgustometer. I think the pooping on the docklines is a territorial statement of some kind.

Delfin said:

I think the pooping on the docklines is a territorial statement of some kind.

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Now and then the seagulls, or ducks, or cormorants develop a liking for a particular boat. Otters likewise? Do they have a non human predator?

Wolves, foxes, wolverines, coyotes, eagles and hawks on their young. Life's not easy for anybody.

Haven't read all of the threads about otter solutions but in checking out a new boathouse on the river here in town I did see the electric fence type deterrent on two berths; wire strung thru' insulators fastened to the dock edge. I imagine this goes to a transformer plugged into a shore power outlet (not in the least knowledgeable about power issues . . . I have a steep learning curve) but it did look cool with the flashing blue sensor light warning that the system was on. God help the person who in throwing a line over a cleat grabs the wire unknowingly when returning from a cruise! As soon as one was installed where they were having otter problems (man what a mess!) the little critters moved to the next berth . . . didn't like the shocks they were getting. Like cockroaches in a New York tenement, kick 'em out of one apartment and they move to the next one! So, that may keep them off my dock and I am going to place a few crab trap bait holders filled with mothballs on the swim grid to try to keep them off of there.


Will take some snaps of the system if there is good light and maybe a product name if here is one.


More later,
BB


I will talk to the owners of the boats with the electric wire defense system for more info and take a few pictures to post.

I rigged up a marina owner's boat house with this system in the early '80s.
It kept the otters out, and other pests as well.

Ted

I'm a little late to this thread, but another issue with otters is they crawl into the exhaust then eat the rubber connector hose (more accurately chew through it) the boat sinks and it may not be covered by insurance...

I've not heard of otters crawling into and chewing through the exhaust system.

I have heard of muskrats doing that though. Muskrats are literally rats and chew and chew. To stop them entering exhausts a SS grid is needed to block entry to the exhaust made of wire something like 1/8 diam.


Either way critters of any type can cause us trouble.

For some reason white vinegar splashed on the dock and lines seems to keep them at bay for us.

Don't otters just swim around docks with electric fences and climb up from the water? Must be fun when it gets foggy