CHEYENNE—Merav Ben-David’s request that state lawmakers leave river otters alone stems from her own research.
The Ph.D University of Wyoming professor isn’t certain of why, but her research has found that the semiaquatic mustelids — which were effectively wiped out during the fur-trade era — are struggling to recolonize large swaths of the state, including places like the Big Horn River Basin. In other areas where they do exist, surveys of otter “latrine” sites suggest they’re becoming increasingly seldom-seen.
“In 2021, we had 25% of the otter activity at these latrines compared to what we had a decade ago,” Ben-David told lawmakers, sharing the results of surveys she conducted on the Green River using Wyoming Game and Fish Department funds.
“River otters are slowly clawing their way back,” she added. “Their existence is tenuous, depending on water flow, fish abundance and pollution.”
Ben-David, who twice ran for office as a Democrat, would know, arguably better than anybody else. Introducing herself to members of the Wyoming Legislature’s House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee on Thursday afternoon, she said that she’s been studying the species since 1984 and is considered to be “a world expert” on North American river otters.
The bill that brought Ben-David to the Wyoming Capitol, House Bill 45, “Removing otters as protected animals,” was brought by Andrew Byron, a Republican who represents northern Lincoln County and southern portions of Teton County. The real estate agent and fishing guide conceived the idea, he said, while out wetting a line on Fish Creek, a polluted, nutrient-choked stream in his district where the fishery has struggled mightily. He saw otters. Byron’s observation followed conversations he’d had with a couple constituents who “were having trouble with otters” in non-stocked waters.
‘Trouble with otters’
Other lawmakers share Byron’s concern, or have constituents who do. Co-sponsors to HB 45 include Reps. Dalton Banks of Cowley, Bob Davis of Baggs, Jeremy Haroldson of Wheatland, Mike Schmid of La Barge, JD Williams of Lusk, John Winter of Thermopolis and Sens. Barry Crago of Buffalo, Dan Dockstader of Afton, Ogden Driskill of Devils Tower and Bill Landen of Casper. All are Republicans.
It’s straightforward legislation. House Bill 45 does what its title suggests, and would strike “otters” from a list of species that are “protected animals for purposes of hunting regulations.” Others on the list include black‑footed ferret, fisher, lynx, pika and wolverine. Otters have been protected for nearly three-quarters of a century, testified Wyoming Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce.
“After they were protected in 1953,” Bruce said, “you started to see their population spread.”
The mustelids, she said, started dispersing from Yellowstone National Park, the only part of Wyoming where they’d maintained a foothold. They also started increasing in southern Wyoming, pioneering new habitat along watersheds that transcend the Colorado border.
Bruce spoke in favor of House Bill 45, though not because Game and Fish wants to start a trapping season on the species. The classification change would give authorities more latitude to deal with problem-causing otters, she said, including killing them if needed. The director was hopeful that management flexibility could buy tolerance for a mesocarnivore that’s expanded its range.
“We really want to see otters repopulate to historic [levels],” Bruce said. “Having this tool, in my perspective, allows us to help gain support for more otters.”
State agency support
Calls for otter management aren’t new. After a rare otter attack on tubers in Montana, media sensationalized reports that likened the 20-pound mammals to grizzly bears. The push for management is motivated, at least in part, by competition: Otters eat fish, like trout, that humans like to catch. Otters aren’t the only piscivores to draw similar ire: Outside of Laramie last summer there was a debate over killing pelicans, though that operation is set to end.
Schmid, the co-sponsor from La Barge, and a former Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner, testified to the Travel, Recreation and Wildlife Committee on Thursday that he’s talked to constituents who’ve found otters in their stocked, private fish ponds.
“They’re having problems with otters to the point where they’re not stocking,” Schmid said.
Under their existing protected status, otters deemed a conflict cannot even be captured for translocation, according to Game and Fish Chief Warden Dan Smith. By default, he said, the species would become “non-game” if lawmakers removed their protected status. That would open the door to moving and killing fish-eating nuisance otters.
“The first step would be to try to relocate them to somewhere else,” Smith said. If that’s not feasible, he said, then they could be killed with the necessary permits.
Ben-David advocated for addressing otter conflict with the tools that are already available. Electric fences “make a huge difference,” she said, citing an experience working on an Alaskan study.
“I’ll be happy to help anybody design those,” Ben-David said.
The otter experts’ plea for continued protections — echoed by several others — didn’t sway lawmakers. Committee member Rep. Bob Wharff, R-Evanston, said he walked into the committee meeting a no vote, but changed his mind after learning that the reclassification essentially just gave managers flexibility. House Bill 45 passed out of committee 8-2.
On Friday, Rep. Karlee Provenza, a Democrat from Laramie, recounted the world’s foremost otter experts’ testimony on the floor of the House of Representatives.
“If the number one scientist that knows what is going on says, ‘No,’ then I would also urge you to vote no on this bill,” Provenza said.
But Schmid, an oil and gas industry businessman, discounted the same scientific evidence from trained ecologists. The experts, he said, are out there “periodically.”
“They’re not out there every day like our landowners and fishing community is,” he said.
Moments later, House Bill 45 passed its first of three floor votes in the Wyoming House in a voice vote where the ayes clearly outnumbered the nos.
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