Otter Project
Cardiff University Otter Project is a national scheme collecting otters found dead in England and Wales for post mortem examination, managed in collaboration with the Environment Agency. The project was established in 1992 with the aim of using tissues collected from this top predator to monitor aquatic contamination. The opportunities presented by national collection of a European protected species are considerable, and while contaminant monitoring remains a key aspect of the project, a wide diversity of additional research is now undertaken under the umbrella of CUOP. In addition, the location of mortality incidents has been used to guide mitigation on roads, reducing the number of future casualties.
Thanks to our funders:
