The Indiana Natural Resources Commission gave unanimous approval Tuesday to establish a river otter trapping season.
Twenty years after river otters were successful reintroduced in Indiana, their numbers have grown so much that DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife recommended setting up a trapping season.
Brian Poynter, chairman of the Natural Resources Commission, says trapping is the best way to manage the population.
“The biology associated with trapping is integral,” he says. “It’s a tremendous asset to the game management and the nuisance species. If we didn’t have trapping, we would have a major problem.”
Problems like otters fishing in landowners’ ponds, trapped by accident, or hit by cars. A public hearing last month recorded numerous comments both for and against the proposal.
Erin Huang, Indiana director for the Humane Society of the United States, says there’s not enough information to establish the new rule.
“We want them to consider the ecological and environmental consequences of opening this trapping and hunting season, but also the animal welfare component, the social component, because there are so many people who are concerned with animal welfare, and it’s growing,” she says.
The rule will set a quota of 600 otters to be taken during the season which will run from December to March. It also prohibits trapping in the 26 central Indiana counties where the otter population is low.
The changes still need to be approved by the Attorney General’s Office and the governor.