Dear editor:
I am grateful to Leo Wolfson for his story on Rep. State Rep. Andrew Byron’s pending bill to remove American river otters from Wyoming’s protected species list.
If I may be so bold, given that Wyoming’s solons will, in two short weeks, gather in Cheyenne to consider House Bill 45, I have a suggestion.
That Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz or another experienced wildlife reporter write a balanced story on the pros and cons of keeping otters on the state’s protected species list.
Facts, even in Wyoming, come in handy.
Mr. Wolfson reported the statement that one Lincoln County resident made to the Game and Fish Commission last March. It was that local people were illegally killing and trapping otters “by the hundreds.”
I found this interesting. It runs counter to otter surveys performed by wildlife biologists. They have found that, after 70 years of legal protection, the species remains rare.
According to WGFD’s records, only three otters were reported killed by trappers over the entire state in 2024.
Trappers are required to report to WGFD any animal on Wyoming’s protected species list that they trap and/or kill, or injure seriously enough to cause death.
It is in Chapter 4, Section 11, Trapping of non-target wildlife: Disposition of furbearing animals at the trap site.
Sincerely:
Donal OToole, Laramie