KATHMANDU — In September 2023, Nepali conservationists celebrated the rare sighting of a smooth-coated otter in Chitwan National Park, the first one had been spotted there in some two decades. But while the incident sparked elation, it also highlighted concerns about the degraded state of Nepal’s overexploited rivers, which has impacted otters and other aquatic species. The sighting of that lone otter has since become emblematic of the problem, and was raised once again in the lead-up to this year’s World Otter Day, marked on the last Wednesday of May. “Otters that are considered the tigers of the freshwater ecosystems are paying the price of overexploitation of rivers in the country,” Sanjan Thapa, deputy coordinator of the Otter Specialist Group’s Himalayan region at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay on the May 28, the eve of this year’s World Otter Day. “They need undisturbed and unpolluted rivers to survive and thrive, but they aren’t getting that in Nepal.” The overexploitation takes various forms, from the dumping of raw sewage and industrial waste, to the leaching of agricultural pesticides, to rapid urbanization and infrastructure development that have eroded riverbanks, silted up waterways, and cleared riparian forests. Roads constructed along riverbanks and water-guzzling hydropower projects have exacerbated the problems. Nepal hosts two, possibly three, freshwater otter species: the smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), like the one spotted in Chitwan; the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra); and, historically at least, the Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea). A Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), one…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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