Otters spotted in Kashmir waters, and residents are both thrilled and wary

Hugu, Kashmir directed by Indian -17 -year -old Nasir Amin Bhat, his schoolmate and neighbor Adil Ahmad in May when he screamed from the river coast on airy summer evening, almost ankle depth.

“Back! There is something in the water.”

Opposite Lidder, a branch of the Jhelum River, in the village of Anantnag of Kashmir ruled by Indian, dived into a Eurasian otter (Lutra Lutra) glacial waters and began to row furiously against the flow of four buns.

Bhat, a high school student, said to Al Jazeera, “I had no idea what happened.” “But I bought my smartphone and opened the camera.”

Grenli, nine-second video, creature, the Union of Conservation of the International Nature (IUCN) shows a fur jacket classified as “close threatened ında in the red list-floats from water and jumps to the river coast.

After a few clumsy steps, the half -slit animal, which can reach 3,660 meters (12,000 feet) in Himalayalar in the summer months, disappears behind a thick shrubs and brings the video to an endless end.

Eurasian otters, who have been believed to have been extinct for a long time, seem to show signs of resurrection in Kashmir, three people have been seen in two places since 2023 by Indian wildlife officers.

Lucky landscapes excited environmentalists and wildlife protectionists while increasing the hope of a better future for the fragile fresh water ecosystems of the Himalayan region, which has been beaten by climate change in recent years.

‘Habitat developed’

Nisarg Prakash, an Indian wildlife biologist, believes that the observation of otter in Kashmir is an indication of high quality water habitats.

Focusing on the samsur of the southern regions of India, Prakash said, “The re -emergence of otter sables may mean that illegal hunting has fallen or the habitat has developed, and perhaps in some cases,” he said.

The otter protected in accordance with the Wildlife Protection Law of India was widely distributed to North India, including Himalayan skirts, gangeth plains and northeastern parts.

In November last year, a refereed study by IUCN said that the Eurasian otter, known as “Vodur ör from Kashmiri, was found in the water bass of Lidder and Jehlum valleys, including one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia, Wular Lake.

However, over the years, the population was irregular and disintegrated by the loss of habitat, pollution and human disorders, Sür says Sher-E-Kashmir Kursheed Ahmad, a senior wildlife at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (Skuast-K).

Ahmad said that Eurasian otter has been withdrawn due to the rape of habitat changes from human activities and the rape of the ideal habitats along the river and other water bodies, and that it has become limited to the least accessible areas for humans.

Ahmad, who chaired the Department of Wildlife at Skuast-K, said, although they were extinct, the landscapes and events had become extremely rare and they were never documented. ”

Less than two years ago, a research team led by Ahmad, during a study on the musk deer in Gurez, during a study on lush meadows and rising peaks, divided by the Kishanganga River along the control line, accidentally stumbled at the actual border between India and Pakistan in Himalayas.

After passing at midnight on August 6, 2023, in a river habitat, in the valley near the 330mw Kishanga Hydro Electric Project, 2,600 meters (8,530 feet) height, after a long legal war by Pakistan by India, was caught after a long legal war in The Hague.

After this view, the research team focused on documenting the existence of otters on the Indian side of Kashmir.

“Unfortunately, due to severe discomfort caused by fishing and other local and paramilitary activities, the IUCN study said,“ Further assets were not documented, ”IUCN said.

Ahmed said that Bhat’s video was only the second photographic proof of the otter of otter in Kashmir.

‘He was very horrified to go there’

However, in the village of Great Agriculture, which consists of 300 families, the residents are both excited and anxious.

In the Dawn crack, Muneera Bano, a housewife, wakes up with anger with anger in the will of the will of the will of the will of the will of the will of the will of the will of the will, covering the banks of the arm outside the house in Hugu, about 58km (36 miles) of the main city of Srinagar.

Bano stopped washing the laundry and kitchen utensils on the banks of the river after being discovered after the otter was discovered, which has been doing for years.

“There are underwater caves [in the tributary]And he’s hiding in one of them. When it appears in the morning, they see crows and start screaming. I was very scared to go there ..

The young Bhat, who filmed the video, said that the arm was often washed in glacier waters and sometimes caught fish. “Now I can’t even think of going there,” he said.

The Grenli video led to rumors about the presence of crocodiles in the arm, and Indian wildlife officials confirmed that it was an Eurasian otter in the Bhat’s video – pushing a camera trap, not a crocodile.

Some wildlife officials were washed in the river in the presence of village elders to show that water was completely safe.

Although otters do not pose any threat to people, they may become unpredictable, especially when they are close to people. But scientists say that these animals may be accustomed to the existence of people.

Wildlife biologist Prakash said he could make them a landscape that will enjoy the curiosity about otter, rather than fear or fear, watching them fish or swimming.

“The sams are largely active in dawn, dawn, twilight and after the darkness, but sometimes they can be seen during the day. Eurasian otters hunting on a large extent on fish, eel and sometimes water birds,” he said.

Kashmir farmer Wasim Ahmad remembers a summer day when he returns from school on the coast of Doodhganga, a large branch of the Jhelum River in the early 1990s.

When Ahmad now returned to the corner in his 40s, he saw a big regiment walking in a shocking way. One man was holding a dead otter, the other was walking on one dog on a bowl.

Bagh-e-Mehtab in Srinagar is home to a illegal hunters community that makes a living by selling the skin of animals, such as cats, otter and other animals. With the more strict animal welfare laws in India, the community gave up the old profession.

Ahmad, who is in the ninth grade, warned that our elderly compiled the children of the otter and eaten raw, ”he said. “But as I grew up, I didn’t even encounter a person who was damaged by the otter. It was basically a tactic to keep children away from the river.”

The wildlife scientist Ahmad said that the re -emergence of the otters in Kashmir is a positive sign.

“Now we should see that the new habitat is protected from uncontrolled pollution, garbage accumulation, increasing carbon emissions and habitat deterioration. It is very important for protection and prosperity to address these difficulties.”