Small town residents terrorized by ballooning otter population on fish-killing spree: ‘I thought there was a burglar’

Residents in a UK town say they are being terrorized by otters that are eating their fish.

Several locals who live in Ulverston, Cumbria, have reported that the animals are breaking into their ponds and killing their Koi Carp fish.

This includes Nigel Cooper, 61, who first witnessed an otter jump into his pond and kill seven of his fish in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago.

He’s now even created a Facebook page and is recording every single otter-related incident in the area on a map.

Nigel said: “My wife looked out of the window and there was a big otter about two meters away from her, jumping into the pond. 

“She squealed and I thought there was a burglar, so I rang into the living room, where she was, and chased the otter around the garden. 

“It then scurried over the fence.

“He killed around four goldfish, two Koi and three Northern Gold fish.

“But we were lucky, because if they get into your pond and they aren’t disturbed then they can completely wipe it out. 

“The otters even grab the big fish and drag them to somewhere a bit quieter, then they much through them.

“Some people are proper Koi experts, they can cost £20,000 to £30,000 each — they are really expensive. 

“The otters can eat thousands of pounds worth in one night.”

Nigel, a former operations manager, believes the population of otters in the area has recently increased and now they are having to find more food sources. 

He said: “There’s two or three pairs of breeding otters in the area and when they have the pups, there’s up to three pups in each breeding season.

“If they are really successful, then they could have six pups in two years and then they breed. 

“All of a sudden, the population of them starts growing. 

“The otters in the area have been that successful with breeding so they are pushing other otters out.

“They have been forced to look for an alternative food source and they’ve stumbled across a pond and thought that it’s good food.

“They’ve established themself somewhere around here but come into the urban areas, take the fish and then go back.

“It’s just a case of finding where they are.”

Nigel says that even though he “loves otters”, he does think that there is “too many of them in the area.”

He’s advising people to try and prevent the otters from coming onto their gardens, by blocking up every hole they can and by stopping them from climbing fences. 

Nigel said: “I love otters but I think there is too many of them in the area. 

“I’ve done all sorts — we witnessed it climb over a five ft fence so you need something to stop them from climbing up them. 

“We’ve got some chicken wire rolled up on the top of it, so it should stop them from climbing up the fence. 

“We’ve also blocked every hole up that we possibly can.”