Coy fish-feasting otter slips away as security at garden tightened

An otter that dined on prized fish at a classical garden in Vancouver’s Chinatown seems to have dashed as the facility takes steps to ensure the unwelcome critter doesn’t come back.

Howard Normann, director of park operations for the city, said automatic closers will be installed on two gates, and plates attached to the bottom of them so the river otter can’t return to the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden.

Two surveillance cameras will also be placed around a pond that was home to the garden’s collection of decorative koi, Normann told a news conference at the garden Thursday when the facility reopened to the public after closing Nov. 20.

That’s after staff began noticing koi carcasses near the pond and visitors spotted an otter on the scene. Traps baited with raw chicken and salmon were set up, but the otter made off with the food without getting caught. The otter ate 11 koi and hasn’t been seen since Saturday. The oldest fish, named Madonna, was estimated to be 50 years old.

“Madonna’s no longer with us,” Normann said, adding the three remaining koi and 344 juvenile fish have been scooped out of the pond and placed at the Vancouver Aquarium. The garden hasn’t yet decided when the koi will be returned to the pond, but Normann said that may not happen until next spring.

It’s believed the otter got in by squeezing through the bottom of a gate. The koi were donated by the Korean pavilion after Expo 86.