European otters have recovered significantly following protection and water quality improvement. Their welfare and conservation illustrate the power of targeted environmental action.
European otter recovery is one of conservation's clearer success stories — a species brought back from the brink of extinction in many areas through targeted protection and environmental improvement. The welfare of wild otters is primarily determined by prey availability and habitat quality. Otters in clean rivers with abundant fish have good welfare; those in polluted, over-abstracted, or fish-depleted rivers face chronic nutritional stress. Road mortality, which peaks in autumn when young otters disperse from birth territories, represents preventable welfare harm — wildlife crossing culverts beneath roads in otter territories dramatically reduce mortality. Supporting the water quality and river management policies that made otter recovery possible, and advocating for wildlife crossings in areas with active otter populations, directly protects individual otter welfare.