To Oblivion And Back

August 18, 2020 7:24 PM

In 1929, the last sea otter in British Columbia was shot dead. In 1970, Canadian biologists transported otters from Alaskan waters and relocated them to Checleset Bay, near the remote northwest tip of Vancouver Island. What started as an experiment has become a significant conservation success story.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (8 comments total)

h/t Fizz
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:24 PM on August 18, 2020

Hungry sea otter eating sea urchin
posted by benzenedream at 7:32 PM on August 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

❤
posted by supermedusa at 7:43 PM on August 18, 2020

Sea otters in estuaries
posted by clew at 8:01 PM on August 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Beautiful and inspiring. Thanks for posting. Blessings upon all the conservationists.
posted by No Robots at 9:20 PM on August 18, 2020

Very cool. The article says there about 8000 sea otters off the coast of BC now, but the ecosystem could probably support 50000, so there's lots of room to grow.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:31 AM on August 19, 2020

Thanks for posting, both the FPP and the estuary article link. I hope they can come to terms with the shellfish farms and the otters, I love me some fabulous clams etc but the impact the otters are having on restoring kelp forests is amazing.
posted by winesong at 8:31 AM on August 19, 2020

Yes! Some good news!
posted by Mesaverdian at 3:39 PM on August 19, 2020