IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
©IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group
Volume 27 Issue 3 Pages 123- 166 (December 2010)
OSG Group Members News
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News Items Involving OSG Members
Addy de Jongh Knighted
During the 25th anniversary of the Dutch Otterstation Foundation on 27th November 2010 Addy de Jongh was knighted in the Royal Order of Orange Nassau for his long lasting contribution to otter conservation in the Netherlands and abroad. The Royal Decoration is a great recognition for his work and otter conservation in general.
Addy de Jongh started his ‘otter career’ as a student of Hans Kruuk in 1984. Before he was gently brainwashed by Hans into an otter conservationist, he did interesting studies on the functional morphology of the front legs and shoulder of the European mole (Talpa europaea), on the ecology and behaviour of ringed Brant geese (Branta bernicla) and on the grazing of geese with 3D high-speed cinematography. Hans asked Addy to join the otter research on Shetland using his scuba diving skills. 
When a tame otter named Penny became available, Addy started to study her swimming and diving behaviour using under water high speed filming. This great experience with Penny made Addy decide to start a Dutch NGO for the conservation of otters and the restoration of otter habitat in the Netherlands. Even after the otter became extinct in 1988, with his Dutch Otterstation Foundation (in Dutch: Stichting Otterstation Nederland), he managed to raise a lot of attention, awareness and funds to get hands-on action for the improvement of otter habitats in the Netherlands. The otter became an important flagship species and was called the Ambassador of the freshwater ecosystem. The otter got anchored in several national policy plans with regards to restoration of nature, eco networks, mitigation measures and improvement of water quality.
The Dutch Otterstation Foundation also managed to start a beautiful otter centre in the north of the Netherlands called Otterpark AQUALUTRA. The park was very important with regards to PR, education, research and a breeding program. It received almost 500.000 visitors. It was sold in 2001 and is now a small zoo.
After 13 years of otter absence in the Netherlands, it was time to bring back the otter in to the country. Addy and his foundation had already carefully planned a reintroduction of the otter according to the IUCN reintroduction guidelines. Together with Janis Ozolins and Vadim Sidorovich, Addy and his colleague Tjibbe de Jong were able to successfully trap otters in Latvia and Belarus for a release in the Netherlands. Their trapping success in 2004 was an amazing 12 otters in 14 days. For this a special GSM trap transmitter was developed by Addy to ensure safe and efficient trapping. The reintroduction succeeded. The otter is back now in the Netherlands and is gradually spreading all over the country. Addy and his foundation are still very actively working on more mitigation measures, getting stop grids in fyke nets mandatory and to get more wetlands connected with each other.
Over the last 12 years Addy has been involved more and more in research and education work abroad. The work was not limited to Lutra lutra. He did also work on European mink (Mustela lutreola) in the Ukraine and discovered with his colleagues that European mink are still surviving in the Dniester delta near Odessa. Addy has also developed a miniature GPS GSM transmitter, which has successfully been used in otter research in Portugal with Lorenzo Quaglietta and with Lughaidh Ó Néill in Ireland for a study on coastal otters in Roaringwater Bay near Cork. It has been the first time worldwide that GPS transmitters were used on otters.
Addy will go on with his work in the Netherlands and abroad. He just returned from South Africa where he is trying to set up a project on Cape Clawless Otter (Aonyx capensis).
New Members of OSG
Since the last issue, we have welcomed 1 new member to the OSG: you can read more about him on the Members-Only pages.
Wolfgang Gettmann, Germany: I have been the Managing Director of the Aquazoo in Duesseldorf since 1994, and since 1998, I have been very involved in the husbandry and ethology of Asian Small-Clawed Otters. I hand-raised an Otter, "Nemo", who was born in 2005, and he and I give many talks and lectures on otter ecology and behaviour together, and have appeared on television several times. I also supervise students working on otter husbandry and ethology. I intend to expand my knowledge and experient of other species of otters, and will attend the 7th International Sea Otter Conservation Workshop in Seattle, USA in March 2011.