# There was an otter in my yard today!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657 "2006-11-09T03:24:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/1 "2006-11-09T03:24:10Z")
So I looked out the fron door today and saw something bounding across the field. It took a minute to register. It was an otter…almost three feet long. It came up in the yard and looked around, then it went back into the swamp. I had not seen one in many years and it was a few hundred feet from the edge of the swamp. I wonder what it was doing. It was almost as exciting as the alligator snapper that crawled up into the field to lay eggs last year. It was about a twenty pound turtle. I had never seen one that big. I wonder what will show up in the yard next. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/2 "2006-11-09T03:38:17Z")
Did it break open a clam on its tummy? ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/3 "2006-11-09T03:49:21Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Did it break open a clam on its tummy? [/QUOTE] That would be a sea otter. This was a river otter. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/4 "2006-11-09T04:13:37Z")
[QUOTE=hlanelee] That would be a sea otter. This was a river otter. [/QUOTE] Then did it break open TWO clams on its tummy? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/5 "2006-11-09T04:18:25Z")
Maybe you “otter” get him a welcome basket. You know, some sticks . . . a little raw fish . . . a Yankee Candle . . . ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/6 "2006-11-09T04:26:26Z")
Cool. I can beat that, though. I saw one run across a guy’s driveway on Kavanaugh in Little Rock, Arkansas, at least three miles from the Arkansas River. I thought it more likely that he had escaped from the zoo, which is closer than the river. He had no clams or otter chow, broken or otherwise. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/7 "2006-11-09T04:33:05Z")
I thought this thread was going to be about something otter than what it is. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/8 "2006-11-09T04:40:31Z")
Pfft. That’s nothing. I’ve had an otter in my bed. Hm? Whaddaya mean, “not _that_ kind of otter”? Oh. :o ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/9 "2006-11-09T04:48:28Z")
That tops my plain old woodchuck and skunk backyard sightings. As a New Yorker turned suburbanite I still think they’re cool though. I hope it’s a she and she comes back with itty bitty baby otters. That would really be adorable. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/10 "2006-11-09T04:53:36Z")
Not to disparage you, **LavenderBlue** , but woodchuck and skunk (and racoon, and in the Northeast, whitetail deer) sighting are strictly amateur stuff. They’re all suburbanites in any area with dense enough housing. Otters are a little trickier. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/11 "2006-11-09T05:13:57Z")
So, has the Allied Atheist Alliance taken over the Great Salkehatchie Swamp? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/12 "2006-11-09T05:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=hlanelee] I wonder what will show up in the yard next. 😕 [/QUOTE] Most likely a tern. Because one good tern deserves an otter. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/13 "2006-11-09T05:15:52Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Not to disparage you, **LavenderBlue** , but woodchuck and skunk (and racoon, and in the Northeast, whitetail deer) sighting are strictly amateur stuff. [/QUOTE] Yes . . . **Sighting** them is strictly amateur stuff . . . 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/14 "2006-11-09T08:05:26Z")
Aww, the most I’ve seen is an overweight marmot perched outside the Pizza Hut. Although, not initially knowing what it was, I thought it was a gigantic gopher. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Push_Up_Bra)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/15 "2006-11-09T09:41:33Z")
I’m going to go with brown snakes, foxes, kangaroos and a stray cat. I’ve seen them all in my yard at some point but not at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/16 "2006-11-09T10:45:39Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] Most likely a tern. Because one good tern deserves an otter. [/QUOTE] This is the worst thing I’ve read in years. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/17 "2006-11-09T11:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] Most likely a tern. Because one good tern deserves an otter. [/QUOTE] **offers a snappy salute** ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/18 "2006-11-09T11:10:51Z")
Otters rule. [Otter brings his injured partner to hospital](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6110176.stm). Now that’s touching. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/19 "2006-11-09T22:52:09Z")
I am so jealous. I would looooooovvvve to have otters living close enough to me to grace my yard. Dangit. Oh well, at least in spring time I have baby bunnies. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657/20 "2006-11-09T23:48:02Z")
I saw an otter in central PA last year. It had killed a 2’ long snake and was (I presume) hauling this home to feed the family. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-an-otter-in-my-yard-today/379657.md?page=2)