IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
© IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group

Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages Pages 1 - 55 (July 2004)

Note From The Editor
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I apologise that this issue has been delayed, although this seems to be becoming a habit. Everytime I try to finish it in time and everytime there are many reasons why I could not manage it. So, one of the excuses for this issue is that I wanted to wait for the IXth Otter Colloquium, as I assumed that there would be a lot of things to report afterwards. The biggest problem in the final stage of finishing, however, was that our e-mail server had problems, with more than 1000 spam mails per minute coming in. This resulted in everything being blocked for three weeks.

Frostburg was a great experience for all of us as far as I can tell and definitely for me personally. It was a great pleasure to meet so many of you again, or even for the first time. I came to Frostburg still hesitating as to whether I should go on with the Bulletin. To be honest I was tired and bored with many aspects of the work but, even at the airport in Baltimore, there was such a nice atmosphere amongst those present that I started to change my mind. I offered to the group to go on with editing the IUCN OSG Bulletin and this was accepted. For me, the biggest problem with the last issue was fundraising and a solution was offered to this. Thanks to the generous offer of Dusty Lombardi, Chair of the Otter Species Survival Plan (SSP) of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), an annual contribution is to be provided and, together with your individual contributions, the financial question seems to be solved.

Frostburg was a perfect conference with a high number of excellent scientific contributions, as well as a lot of new ideas (childrens contest, art auction) that should become a standard part of our meetings. Thanks go from all of those who attended to Lisa and Tom and their whole team for making these days unforgettable! Lisa, many thanks for organising a dentist within 1 hour on a Saturday morning! Rafting was an experience in itself, with some even trying to swim through the rapids. In addition to the scientific contributions we had great discussions in the local bar, and sometimes even later in rooms of the guesthouse or in the gardens of locals, with the police slowly driving along at 4.30 am without disturbing the "scientific meeting".

We learnt, on the last evening, that one otter had been kidnapped out of a room and we were all in great fear over what had happened to this lovely little animal. Meanwhile, it turned out that it was a courageous animal that had decided to travel around the world before finally settling in Sweden. For those who do not understand anything now there is more information about this very suspicious event at the end of this Bulletin.

In addition, I really want to thank Kevin Roche, Rachel Kuhn, Jessica Groenendijk, Eduardo Carillo-Rubio, Hans van den Berg, Els Hoogsteede-Veens, Erwin Hellegering, and all the reviewers for their continuing contributions to the IUCN OSG Bulletin.

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