Results

One of the anglers is suprised at his own reaction. When he came in here he was sure he´d vote against the otter protection and migration programme. But now he asks himself how to get the project started.

"At first I thought if the project was succesfull there wouldn´t be enough fish left for me and the other anglers. So, naturally I wasn´t too excited for otters to live in this area and hunt all the fish." he accounts, " But when heard the lecture about how these actually fascinating creatures were driven out of their natural living space and got almost extinct and how the project, by ehancing the water quality and other environmental improvements, the fish occurance would increase, I wanted to be a part of the project."

Through his help and the work of many other project members the otter is know home in all over Denmark, North-Germany and slowly the appereance in the region sorrounding terretory also increased.

Moreover, many people in the urban area of Hamburg have become aware of the environmental preservation programmes, that accompanied the otter project, and are now participating saving the native rivers, creeks, woods and plants.

Challenge

Because of the strong pollution of the home waters in Europe, too intensive use of the sorrounding area as farm land or industrial premises and strong hunting the otter almost disappeared from sight in the last decades.

Thanks to various project activities, the animal was able to breed and multiply, and otters started to being sighted first in Denmark and then the northern regions of Germany. The migration got difficult when otters tried to move through the metroplitan area of Hamburg, which lies right in between two German states.

Actions Taken

The HNUI knew that Hamburg, despite of being a large city, still has many areas of nature left. Lots of nature preservation parks with creeks and small rivers running through them just needed some willing volunteers who started to enhance the parks with the expertise knowlegde of the HNUI and soon the first otters where sighted.

"We didn´t only want the expand the living space for the otters, we also wanted to improve the public awerness for the nature arround them." Mr. Karsten Borggräfe says. This goal was definitely accomplished when just in the first year of the project, over 50 media coverages were publicized.