River Otters On Long Island: The Joy And The Tragedy

river otters
Mike Zunno spies a friend

River Otters on Long Island! It seems hard to believe. A small miracle. But they are fighting heavy odds.

In our latest installment of “Wilder Eyes,” Melissa Feudi meets up with nature photographer Francisco J. Rodriguez 📸 @hipogrito and @MikeZunno, Park Steward for The Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, as the three explore the lives of a family of river otters now living in Fuchs Pond Preserve.

Long Island’s River Otters: Beauty and Tragedy

Due to habitat loss / degradation the otter dad was unfortunately was struck by a car.
The wonder and the joy that these river otters have brought is tempered by the fact that while they have reestablished a toehold on Long Island in this preserve, they are barely hanging on. The water here is healthy enough to support crayfish and crabs, healthy enough to feed them in part to the lack of phragmites.

river otters
They Are Curious!

Here is a PDF of Fuchs Pond Preserve in Northport. It’s an absolute gem and one of the few places river otters could expect to find crayfish, which is part of the reason why they showed up.

River Otters
Photograph: Mike Zunno

As with all wildlife on Long Island, however, the potential for tragedy is always there given how many cars are on our roads. A female river otter gave birth to two cubs, one of which was run over on a road running by the preserve back in January as well as the papa otter. This will have drastic effects on our future population.

What can we do to protect what little wildlife we have left from being run over on our tiny crowded island?

UPDATE!!!

….Today as we post this, we found another river otter was struck in SMITHTOWN. We will provide more information when we have it.

This is why need to. Advocate for underground wildlife corridors. Our wildlife needs safe passage. We must learn how to live densely together on this crowded island, people and the rest of us.

And why we need to restore pond habitats, so that river otters and other vanishing creatures might still find a home.

With that in mind, Volunteer at our next Phrag Pull. Phragmites, a highly invasive plant (it’s everywhere!) is just the sort of thing that would make a pond highly undesirable to river otters and our local wildlife generally.

river otters

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