River otters are coming for a mega playday

World Otter Day is May 26, and North Carolina’s river otters who live and play in the coastal river basins are planning to gather for a big celebration at the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores (NCA-PKS). 

Tens of thousands of the graceful, adorable and frisky otters are expected to attend “World Otter Day Playday.” Flotillas are being organized for the semi-aquatic mammals to descend on Bogue Banks from the White Oak and Neuse river basins, which have easy access to the aquarium back door. 

Invitations have also been extended to river otters residing within the nearby Cape Fear and Tar-Pamlico river basins.

“Some of these critters will have a bit of a long-distance swim to get to Pine Knoll Shores, but we are hopeful many will choose to participate on May 26,” said organizer Jay Burns of the North Carolina Aquarium Foundation. “To help us plan, we began accepting RSVPs today, April 1. The cutoff date will be May 15. 

The event is being co-sponsored by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Its executive director Cameron “Cam” Ingham said: “The river otter is an active and adventuresome creature that inhabits many North Carolina rivers. Sighting one can be an exciting occasion for boaters, fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts. The animal slides down muddy slopes for the sheer delight of it.” 

“River otters are certainly the darlings of the Mustelidae family of carnivorous mammals, which includes weasels, ferrets, minks, skunks, badgers and wolverines,” Ingham said. 

River otters have sleek, elongated bodies with short sturdy legs. The otter’s tail is highly muscular and comprises up to 40% of its total body length of three to four feet. With the tail’s strong, undulating movement, a river otter can propel itself speedily through the water. 

Otters have keen underwater vision but are nearsighted out of the water. For this reason, aquarium staff members are prepared to escort the arriving otters to the celebration station within the Theodore Roosevelt Natural Area, a 265-acre nature preserve adjacent to the aquarium. Social distancing is required. 

The otters will be partying with a purpose – to express appreciation to humans at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission for helping revive the otter population in the state’s rivers, streams and creeks. 

Dr. Chris DeBerno, a professor at North Carolina State University, explained that in the 1800s, “overhunting and a lack of wildlife management decimated the river otter population in North Carolina’s mountains and Piedmont.” 

In the 1990s, a bunch of river otters from eastern rivers were selected for relocation to central and western North Carolina waterways. Dr. DeBerno told Meghan Overdeep of Southern Living magazine in 2020: “North Carolina’s river otter populations are now among the healthiest in North America.” 

Overdeep told her readers: “That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call otterly wonderful news.” 

Liz Beard, who runs the show at NCA-PKS, said the May 26 event will be a “bit of a casting call.”

The three male otters-in-residence at NCA-PKS – Neuse, Pungo and Eno – are approaching their golden years. 

“Our team is in succession-planning mode to recruit the finest specimens of otterdom to begin internships,” Beard said.

“We have two goals moving forward. One is to achieve boy-girl gender equity,” she said. 

“The second is to have geographic diversity…with at least one otter representing each of the 17 North Carolina river basins.” 

The Nolichucky River river otters want in. They have a GoFundMe webpage.