‘Traffic lights’ installed on Mull … to help otters cross the road
TRAFFIC lights to help otters to cross the road safely have been installed on Mull thanks to a dedicated band of volunteers, after their research found 50 otters had been run over in the past four years.
The semi-aquatic mammals, members of the weasel family – which includes badgers, martens, minks and wolverines – sleep and rear their young inland in ‘holts’ but feed on fish, frogs, crayfish and crabs out to sea, where they are fast and agile swimmers with powerful webbed feet.
Their name is from the same root as the English word ‘ water’. Otters are inquisitive, playful and intelligent, often appearing to take childlike enjoyment in sliding around on muddy banks or in snow.
Volunteers of the Mull Otter Group (MOG) have tried to reduce the numbers killed on the island’s roads, recorded as 50 since January 2013, by putting up ‘otters crossing’ warning signs and clearing culverts. But with traffic expected to increase by 50 per cent due to cheaper ferry tickets because of the Road Equivalent Tariff, members are hoping their latest ploy of roadside reflectors will keep the fatalities down.
The reflectors, which cost £525 for each set, work by reflecting the light from oncoming vehicles at right angles into the eyes of any otter who may be contemplating crossing the road. It is hoped the otters will learn that, when the verges are illuminated, it warns them not to cross the road – like a red traffic light.
MOG member Marie Fox wrote on the group’s website: ‘Otters need to cross the roads which lie between the feeding area on the shore and the places where they rest and get fresh water, which are further inland.
‘We wish they would wait until it’s safe to cross the road, or always use the convenient tunnels aka culverts. But until someone figures out how to teach otters about road safety, we have to think of other methods.’
As part of a trial, two sets of reflectors have been installed in Mull’s ‘hot spots’ for otter deaths, with the second set put in near Pennygown.
‘It has proved successful on Skye,’ said Marie. ‘ We hope it will be successful on Mull.
‘If the lights are, we will install them in other areas where otters have been killed by vehicles.’
‘Road traffic accidents are a massive problem,’ explained group chairwoman Jane Stevens. ‘Last year we lost 25. This year we have lost 14. Every single day otters dice with death to get to the sea to eat and get back home again.’