North American River Otters in the Rio Grande

A young woman came into our shop recently and, after looking around, said, “I see you have lots of wild animal art.  Do you have any otters?”  I responded that my art was based on  animals were those you were likely to see in New Mexico.  “But, we have them”, she said, “and they are making a comeback!”.   What!?!  It turns out, this young woman works with the otters at the aquarium.  We chatted, I did some research on my own, here is what I learned:

New Mexico was a home for North American river otters, but the native population was wiped out in the 1950’s.  In the early 2000’s, non-profits, tribes and government agencies worked together to reintroduce otters to the upper Rio Grande.  There was some controversy – mostly due to fear that the otters might do further damage to an already at-risk native fish population.  However, it appears that the otters prefer to munch on invasive crawfish and slower non-native fish species.  This may actually be beneficial by freeing up habitat for the trout.

The otters that were relocated to New Mexico came were mostly trapped “nuisance” otters (causing problems for fish farmers) from the Seattle area.  Rather than be euthanized, they got one-way tickets to the upper Rio Grande.  They may have to work a little harder for a meal but what a sweet deal!  The same story goes for our two aquarium otters Chaos and Mayhem – they were Louisiana fish farm pests and are now beloved Albuquerque Aquarium superstars.

So, I added some otters to my menagerie along with the turtle and trout.  I’m working towards a collection I will call “Riverwalk”.

Other members of the “Riverwalk Collection”

You can find this artwork in our online store in stationary, wall art and pillow covers.