~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Driven by cruelty, sadism, and greed, trappers are murdering otters all across the country.
- Otters are coveted for their pelts, and also regarded as competition by fishermen.
- Trappers resort to extremely cruel methods of capturing these wonderful creatures and dooming them to slow, painful deaths.
- Otters are good for the environment. As they consume urchins, they allow for the growth of kelp forests, which in turn become habitat for many other ocean species.
- Furry otters live along ocean coasts, but river otters (with smooth fur) make a living in both the ocean and the rivers.
- They form close family units and are excellent and devoted parents.
Otters are known for being adorable and playful creatures who form tight social bonds — but what's less well known is how they are being killed. Recreational trappers are targeting North American river otters, and most people probably don't even realize that this is still legal in many places across the country.

Body-grip, leg-hold and foot-hold traps are used to catch many different kinds of wild animals who, once caught, can wait days before being found and killed. With otters the traps can be particularly terrifying, since trappers targeting otters sometimes set the devices underwater in what is called a "pocket set trap," so the otter caught in the device drowns as he tries to get free. This can last as long as eight agonizing minutes.
"Otters are most commonly trapped with Conibear traps — full-body traps that slam down on the animal but don't necessarily kill them, so that they experience drawn-out agony," Place said. Other times, hunters set a cage trap right by an otter's home (usually a den abandoned by another animal, like beavers), and bait the animals with a piece of fish.
"Otter trapping is often justified on the basis of overpopulation or supposed damage to fish stocks, but the reality is that their fur is lucrative," Jennifer Place, trapping spokesperson for Born Free USA, told The Dodo.
Continue reading, and see how you can help
