Wildlife Success Stories in Indiana

By Geriann Albers

 It’s a tale you’ve probably heard by now. Lack of regulations and habitat loss caused Indiana and many other states to lose a variety of wildlife species.

White-tailed deer, wild turkey, river otter, and bobcats were gone by the early to mid-1900s. Today, most Hoosiers can easily look out their window or take a morning drive in spring to know that the first two species are on the list of success stories. But what about those last two species?

River otters have a reputation for being playful. I still remember and old Walt Disney “World of Color” TV movie, “An Otter in the Family,” about a boy who saves and adopts a rambunctious river otter. He eventually must release it back into the wild because of the rampant destruction it causes around their house and his mother’s resulting distress. River otters are not great pets, but boy are they charismatic. It’s not easy to see one, because they are often active when and where people are not. They’re most active at dawn and dusk, though they will bounce around feeding during the day. But it’s a delight when you can catch a glimpse of one bouncing along a riverbank or skimming along in a lake.

River otters spend most of their time around water, making them one of our “semi-aquatic” furbearers. They eat fish, crayfish, mussels, frogs, snakes, and other animals that live in and near water. Their playful reputation is in reality an indicator of their being a predator that stays in peak physical shape to catch its prey, which is often elusive swimming species.

River otters have glossy, dark brown fur with a paler belly and chin. They are the densest-furred species in Indiana. They can have almost half a million hairs per square inch. This keeps them warm and insulated from the water they spend a lot of time in, even during the coldest months of the year.

River otters breed in the summer, then have delayed implantation, meaning the eggs aren’t immediately fertilized. Instead, the eggs implant, and young develop in the spring. Otters give birth between February and April, typically to two or three pups.

From that point, otters differ from some of our other wildlife. While foxes pair off and defend their territory against other foxes, river otters sort of do whatever they feel like doing at the time. You might see an adult pair with their young in summer, but you can also find bachelor groups of river otters hanging out in a slough, unrelated otters swimming with a family, and lone otters bouncing around by themselves. They don’t defend territories and don’t have rigorous social structures. Any combination of river otters is possible.

If you ever are fortunate enough to come across a river otter in the wild and you think you detect a residual Cajun accent its chirps and hums, that would be consistent with its heritage. When Indiana reintroduced river otters starting in 1995, we got them from Louisiana. Between 1995 and 1999, 303 river otters were caught in foothold traps, transported here via the interstates, and released at 12 sites throughout northern and southern Indiana. This reintroduction formed the basis for our modern otter population of more than 8,500.

River otters were removed from the state’s endangered species list in 2005, a mere 10 years after reintroductions started. They are often an indicator of water quality, as both they and their prey need clean water to thrive. Their relatively quick recovery was a positive sign of the work Indiana has done to make its rivers, creeks, and lakes healthier for people and wildlife.

Indiana has a population model for river otters and can track their annual trajectory and relative abundance. While no population model is perfect, ours helps us have confidence we’re finding balance in trapping regulations and river otter populations. It helps us set the statewide quota and bag limit of our limited, regulated trapping season as well as informing the process we have for issuing permits when people have conflicts with river otters. Our population model and other data for the species ensures that we can allow outdoor opportunity around river otters while still ensuring populations continue to thrive.

If you’re having trouble with river otters in your private ponds—a common complaint—we have resources on our website about improving fish habitat that may help. Often, small ponds have very little cover or vegetation for fish to hide in. This can make it easy for river otters to catch fish, especially stocked native fish. Providing such habitat in ponds can both help the fish populations and make it harder for river otters to catch fish. https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/fishing/private-pond-and-lake-management/

Bobcats have a slightly different type of success story in Indiana. They were not reintroduced. A healthy population of bobcats in neighboring states like Kentucky began growing. Those bobcats began to expand into Indiana predominantly in the 1990s, though we have a few records of bobcats in the 1970s. Genetics research shows that even northern Indiana bobcats are often related to southern populations in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and Arkansas. Bobcats can disperse more than 100 miles to find a new home. This has allowed them to expand back into areas throughout the Midwest where they once were lost.

Indiana conducted bobcat research in the early 2000s. DNR staff collared some of the bobcats in the newly established population to understand their habitat use, home ranges, and other information. That work told us female bobcats typically needed 9 square miles to successfully raise kittens. Bobcat do not stay with one mate, so a male will typically overlap two or three female bobcats and cover a much larger area. Bobcats have two to three kittens born in March and April. Kittens stay with their mother for almost a full year before dispersing.

During that research, DNR staff also conducted a diet study. We looked at more than 120 bobcat stomachs and found bobcat’s preferred foods are mice, voles, rabbits, and squirrels. They will occasionally eat birds. Round a few songbirds, ducks, and even an owl. Surprisingly, they didn’t find any wild turkeys. Bobcats will eat a turkey if they catch one, but they are not a big part of their diet.

Bobcats slowly expanded from the southern forests and moved up Indiana’s river and creek systems on the west side of the state, such as the Tippecanoe and Wabash. They are now found in some northern counties, like Lake, Porter, LaPorte, and St. Joseph. They’re still a rare sight in eastern Indiana, but we have a bobcat report from almost every Hoosier county. No matter where you live, there could be a bobcat passing somewhere nearby.

Indiana is fortunate to have a population model for bobcats as well. This model differs from the one for river otters, as it doesn’t provide an estimated number. The model is based on the habitat needs of breeding female bobcats and available high-quality habitat in the state. But as with river otters, this model helps ensure we are setting regulations that can balance outdoor opportunities regarding bobcats with maintaining their populations.

If you appreciate river otters and bobcats, there are ways to volunteer to help monitor their populations. If you enjoy paddling Indiana’s beautiful waterways, consider participating in the Paddlecraft Wildlife Index, on.IN.gov/paddlecraftindex. Paddlecraft volunteers report hours paddled and sightings of 12 wildlife species they may see while on the water. River otters are part of that effort, and it’s one way we hope to track long-term trends in the species. For bobcats, if you are a deer archery hunter, you can sign up for the Archer’s Index, on.IN.gov/archersindex. Volunteers in this effort report hours hunted and wildlife seen while hunting in the fall. Bobcat observations can also be reported to the Report A Mammal website, on.IN.gov/report-a-mammal.

Indiana is fortunate to have recovered so many of its once lost wildlife, albeit in different ways for different species. Indiana DNR works hard with other stewards of the land, volunteers, and engaged members of the public to collect data and try to find balance among the myriad ways people value or have conflicts with wildlife. If you haven’t seen a river otter or bobcat in Indiana, give it time. They’re both on a positive path, and with a bit of luck, you will, someday.

Just don’t let a river otter in your kitchen. Disney taught me that doesn’t end well.

Geriann Albers is the Furbearer and Turkey Program Leader with the Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife