Otters breed in El Hondo
OTTERS have bred for the first time in El Hondo natural park, according to the regional environment department.
They released a video on Wednesday of the mother and her two offspring, taken with a hidden camera in the protected area which lies in the municipalities of Elche and Crevillente. The otters were filmed at night in an area close to the lagoons operated by the Riegos de Levante irrigation collective.
A department spokesman noted that the otter had been considered to be in danger of extinction in the south- east of Spain during the last decade.
However, it was found to be venturing further down the River Segura and was first spotted in El Hondo in 2017.
Since then, park staff have been trying to follow the progress of these carnivorous mammals. The spokesman noted that they established that the lagoons and habitat of El Hondo – and the improvement in the water quality – have allowed otters ‘ to become established in the park’.
“There is sufficient evidence to state that the extensive network of irrigation channels in the southern zone of El Hondo have functioned as an ecological corridor, allowing this species to reach this wetland,” said the spokesman.
He added that the otter is the largest native carnivore in the wild in the Valencia region and can measure up to 120 centimetres in length and weigh up to eight kilos.
This aquatic mammal lives in rivers, lakes and wetlands which have ‘ good quality water’, he noted.