Transplanted River Otters 55 



The occurrence of a confirmed birth during the same year of 

 transplanting is exceptional. Whether or not timing of trapping and 

 translocation to occur 6 to 7 weeks prior to the peak birthing period 

 would result in more such births is speculative, but the method should 

 be tested. It could reduce the 1- to 2-year lag in first-generation 

 production that has been observed in translocation programs. However, 

 delays in reproduction for 1 to 2 years after release should continue to 

 be expected following late-winter/ spring release of translocated otters, 

 because individual responses of females to the entire trap-and-transfer 

 procedure will remain variable and will influence reproduction. 



LITERATURE CITED 

 Erickson, D. W., and C. R. McCullough. 1987. Fates of translocated river 



otter in Missouri. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 15:511-517. 

 Griess, J. M., and B. Anderson. 1987. Reintroduction of the river otter into the 



Obed Wild and Scenic River in Tennessee. Tenn. Wildl. Res. Agency, 



Crossville (unpublished report). 

 Liers, E. E. 1951. Notes on the river otter (Lutra canadensis). J. Mammal. 



32:1-9. 

 Pollard, L. 1984. Return of the river otter. Outdoor Oklahoma 40:2-7. 

 Serfass, T. L., and L. M. Rymon. 1985. Success of river otter introduced in 



Pine Creek drainage in northcentral Pennsylvania. Trans. Northeast Sect. 



Wildl. Soc. Fish Wildl. Conf. 42:138-149. 

 Toweill, D. E., and J. E. Tabor. 1982. River otter (Lutra canadensis). Pages 



688-703 in Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management, and 



Ecology (J. A. Chapman and G. A. Feldhammer, editors). John Hopkins 



Univ. Press, Baltimore, Md. 



Accepted March 1991 



