Otter holts - their breeding burrows - are legally protected from disturbance. Understanding how to identify potential holt sites and avoid disturbing them protects one of the UK's most charismatic recovery species.
Otter holt disturbance causes severe welfare harm to cubs that cannot leave during the dependent period. Flooding, excavation, or collapse of a holt containing young cubs is almost certainly fatal to the cubs and enormously stressful to the attending female. These welfare harms are avoidable through proper environmental impact assessment before river bank work. Local wildlife groups and Environment Agency officers can advise on avoiding holts. The recovering UK otter population - a genuine conservation success - depends on continued protection of breeding sites from unintentional disturbance as much as from deliberate persecution.