The otter returns to populate Northern Italy, but its survival is still at risk

In the travel postcards for the recovery of biodiversity there are otters sighted on the rocks close to the beaches (in Castellabate), others crossed by canoeists along the rivers (in Cilento) and still others sighted where they had disappeared for half a century, as in the Dolomites. The otter, in Italy, is slowly returning. It must be said in a whisper, as if not to disturb her: of this fascinating animal, queen of rivers and bodies of water, along the Boot there are just a thousand specimensespecially in the south.

Yet the signs of an encouraging recovery, he says the Wwf which in collaboration with the University of Molise has carried out a monitoring of the species, there are indeed. For example, after years is returned to be present in areas where it had disappeared such as Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Alto Adige, or Lombardy and Liguria, while in areas such as Piedmont (apart from a small nucleus in the Ticino regional park) or Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria it is still absent. However, the real territory of the Italian otters is above all the central and southern Italy: the population is concentrated in Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria and increasing in Abruzzo and Molise.

The European otter (lutra lutra), among the rarest mammals in Italy, was once historically present in territories that it then had to abandon due to direct impact and anthropic disturbance. Today, also thanks to the contact between already present nucleuses, these animals are returning – as is also the case for beavers in certain areas of the peninsula – especially in areas where there are waterways and along the mouths of rivers.

In the ongoing monitoring, which will end in summer 2023, for example, there are important signals from Lazio where the otter is present in “more evident numbers than in the other regions monitored and it is very probable that it is not a consequence of the expansion of the resident population in the South, but that it was an arrival from the sea ” they write from the WWF.

Different speech instead for the north, where it is decidedly less present, but new sightings have recently occurred for example in Veneto in the province of Belluno and in border areas: “The picture that can be outlined is that we are witnessing a return of the species to the Alpine arc and gradually further downstream, thanks to the encroachment of specimens from Austria, Slovenia and France” explains the environmental association.

Despite the good news, the otter in Italy is still threatened and in Europe classified as vulnerable: the estimate is between 800 and 1000 specimens present in our country, which must be studied, protected and monitored (the last census is from 40 years ago). In this regard, in addition to the precious work of the researchers of the University of Molise, the reports from citizen scientistscitizens who voluntarily collaborate with data and information.

A valuable contribution to the restoration of Italian biodiversity and the recovery of an animal that once lived throughout the peninsula but which due to human actions, such as hunting linked to the fur trade, but also the degradation and fragmentation of habitats and the transformations of river areas, it has gradually disappeared. “The challenge today is to foster the connection between the vital population of the South and part of the Centre, with the Centre-North. It will not be easy and it will take time, but this is the scenario we are working on. With a also pay attention to solving an increasingly frequent threat, especially where otters move more frequently, that of ending up run over by cars”, underlines the WWF, also recalling the importance of protected areas such as the Oasis of Persano, Grotte del Bussento and Lago di Conza in Campania, Pantano di Pignola and Policoro in Basilicata, Cascate del Verde in Abruzzo, and the projects of the national park of Cilento-Vallo di Diano and Monti Alburni in which the otter manages to survive.