A family of river otters on a wharf on Shuswap Lake in Salmon Arm, Aug. 4.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ron Banville
August 09, 2022 - 12:07 PM
A family of river otters in Salmon Arm are becoming the most popular animals in town
Salmon Arm resident Ron Banville has been observing and photographing the otters for a few years. Some of his recent photos of the family playing on the Marine Park Drive wharf on Shuswap Lake last week have garnered some attention on social media.
“They live in the area,” he said. “They are here in the winter playing on the ice and snow.”
A river otter caught on camera on a wharf on Shuswap Lake in Salmon Arm, Aug. 4.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ron Banville
Banville said while the lake offers a wide array of wildlife to watch, the river otters are becoming the most popular animals in town as people regularly come down to the wharf looking for them and asking him if he’s seen them.
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“Two of them are the offspring,” he said. “I watched them being born a few years ago. This is the first time in a long time I’ve seen the whole family together.”
River otters on a wharf on Shuswap Lake in Salmon Arm, Aug. 4.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ron Banville
River otters are found throughout Canada and mid-southern U.S.A. Their common habitat is lakes, streams and marshes. They can grow to 1.4 metres long and weigh up to thirty pounds, and have webbed feet for swimming, long tails and thick claws.
River otters on a wharf in Salmon Arm, Aug. 4.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ron Banville
“There are a lot of fish in this lake for them to eat,” Banville said. “It is mind boggling how much they eat and poop. When the wharf is covered with poop, that's how you know they're back.”
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Banville has lived in Salmon Arm for 35 years and only recently, after retiring, has begun to discover the rich wildlife around him, which he captures in photographs and shares with others on social media.
A river otter on a wharf on Shuswap Lake in Salmon Arm, Aug. 4.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Ron Banville
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