IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
©IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group
Volume 38 Issue 5 (December 2021)
OSG Group Members News
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New Members of OSG
Since the last issue, we have welcomed 9 new members to the OSG, and welcomed back a former member: you can read more about them in the Members-Only pages.
Returning:
Baird Fleming, New Zealand: I began my otter career by raising orphaned otters in Honduras at the age of 8. I spent over 8 years living with otters until embarking on my professional career which includes decades working within Zoo and rehabilitation facilities overseeing the husbandry, veterinary and exhibit needs of many species, including multiple species of otters. I an currently Director of Hamilton Zoo on North Island, New Zealand, that will soon house otters. I hope to focus my efforts on enhancing the ex-situ otter conservation capacity of zoos and aquariums through education programs and actual facility space for otter species that require greater ex-situ assistance and awareness.
New:
Anish Banerjee, UK: I am a third-year undergraduate student from the University of Manchester. I am currently pursuing a 4 year Integrated Masters in Zoology. I have been fortunate to track two families of Smooth Coated Otters in Singapore for a span of more than five years.I then volunteered for an otter occupancy survey in Balaghat District in Madya Pradesh conducted by the Centre of Wildlife Studies in early 2021. This included doing transects and setting up camera traps to verify the presence of Smooth Coated and European Otters. I plan on either doing my Masters or pHD thesis about otters in India. I have also founded my own wildlife NGO in India: Think Wild Foundation
Terence Carroll, USA: I am co-founder, President, and Research Director of the River Otter Ecology Project, a US non-profit conservation organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Amongst other things, I developed integrated cloud-based data collections, storage and retrieval, and designed and created a GIS-enabled mobile application for field data collection.
Alfredo Claverie,Argentina: I am biologist and currently I am doing my PhD in Ushuaia, focused in an integral research of the southern river otter (Lontra provocax).
Eva Claeys, Canada: I’m a wildlife rehabber at Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. For the last couple of years, I've been the main caregiver of our orphaned beavers and otters and I just love it. Otters are by far my favourite species with their funny personality and endless curiousity.
Kathy Hughes, Laos: As a highly motivated ecologist with 17 years’ experience, I have a proven track record of developing, delivering and monitoring impactful freshwater conservation programmes and influencing environmental policy. My current role as WWF Freshwater Biodiversity Leader, and Asia-Pacific leader, and I am co-chair of the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group and would very much like to foster strong relations between our two groups
Daniela Lahn, Germany: I am a behavioural biologis, and have been working in zoos and animal parks for over 10 years. I have just moved to Rostock Zoo. For the previous two years I worked at the OTTER-ZENTRUM in Hankensbüttel, Germany as head of the animal husbandry and research department, particularly on feeding, enclosure structure and training. I also give public lectures on otters, and was recently an otter expert witness at the successful court case which prevented the culling of 6 otters in Southern Germany
Andrew Johnson, USA: I serve as a California Representative with Defenders of Wildlife, a U.S.-based national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring imperiled species and their habitats in North America. For 20 years, I led the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s pioneering Sea Otter Research and Conservation program, and I have provided care, facilitated research, and participated in conservation activities for more than 30 marine mammal species over the past 43 years.
Lukas Keeve, Germany: I am an IT professional who has been providing services to otter supporters for some time. I am a member of Aktion Fischottershutz e.V., and the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication. My skills include Video, sound and image design, web and social media management and I speak German, English, Italian and Arabic.
Kyle Shanebeck, Canada: Though I am in Canada now, I am from California and started in sea otter research in 2010. I then did my Masters at the University of Bremen (Germany) investigating the parasites of sea otters in California and Alaska as well as seals in Germany. At that time, I also helped in the startup of Lutra lutra monitoring, performing necropsie on the first 15 otters they received. Now in Canada, I am doing my PhD on the effects of sub-lethal parasitic infection on energetic condition (health) and pollutants in river otters (Lontra canadensis) and mink (Neogale vison) in British Columbia and Alberta. I also do necroscopies on otters for other projects, looking at the effects of pollution from oil sands, and most recently testing otters and mink for covid-19.