Beautiful little UK town on edge of Lake District terrorised by ‘killer’ otters

Residents of a quiet UK town in the beautiful Lake District are living in fear of hungry otters, which have started wreaking havoc and feasting on their prized fish.

In Ulverston, Cumbria, the community has been plagued by otter attacks, with numerous reports of the creatures raiding ponds and decimating stocks of Koi Carp. Nigel Cooper, 61, experienced the terror first-hand when an otter invaded his pond a fortnight ago, slaughtering seven of his fish under the cover of darkness.

Following the grisly mass koi killing, Nigel has launched a Facebook page dedicated to logging otter incidents and is meticulously plotting each one on a map.

Recounting the ordeal, Nigel said: “My wife looked out of the window and there was a big otter about two metres away from her, jumping into the pond.”

“She squealed and I thought there was a burglar, so I rang into the living room, where she was, and chased the otter around the garden,” he continued.

“It then scurried over the fence. He killed around four goldfish, two Koi, and three Northern Goldfish.

“But we were lucky, because if they get into your pond and they aren’t disturbed then they can completely wipe it out. The otters even grab the big fish and drag them to somewhere a bit quieter, then they much through them.

“Some people are proper Koi experts, they can cost £20,000 to £30,000 each – they are really expensive. The otters can eat thousands of pounds worth in one night.”

Former operations manager Nigel suspects a recent surge in the local otter population is driving them to seek new food sources.

Wildlife enthusiast Nigel expressed his astonishment at the teeming population of otters nearby, sharing: “There’s two or three pairs of breeding otters in the area and when they have the pups, there’s up to three pups in each breeding season.

“If they are really successful, then they could have six pups in two years and then they breed. All of a sudden, the population of them starts growing.”

He noted how this success has led to displacement: “The otters in the area have been that successful with breeding so they are pushing other otters out.

“They have been forced to look for an alternative food source and they’ve stumbled across a pond and thought that it’s good food.

“They’ve established themselves somewhere around here but come into the urban areas, take the fish and then go back. It’s just a case of finding where they are.”

Even as an otter lover, Nigel admitted: “I love otters but I think there is too many of them in the area.”

He has resorted to advising residents on defensive measures: “I’ve done all sorts – we witnessed it climb over a five ft fence so you need something to stop them from climbing up them.

“We’ve got some chicken wire rolled up on the top of it, so it should stop them from climbing up the fence. We’ve also blocked every hole up that we possibly can.”