Sutro Sam? Ptui, Danville Has A PAIR Of Otters!

Recent discovery of a lone River Otter gamboling in the ruins of Sutro Baths in San Francisco sent conservationists and the media into a frenzy, but what they don’t know is that Danville has a pair of otters on its turf – and the locals like having them around.

Town officials posted some video one of their “sharp-eyed” workers captured in the pond at Oak Hill Park and we’d say he or she captured a pair of North American River Otters doing what they do best – swimming and fishing. Hopefully, they’ll make more otters as the market for otter-skin hats has thankfully dried up and modern-day humans will confine themselves to taking pictures of the aquanauts from shore.

Environmentalists said the lithe creatures are “living barometers” of the area’s water quality and cite the reemergence of lone otters like Sutro Sam and pairs such as the ones in Danville as indication of improving Bay Area water quality. Pairs are even better, they say, as the last recorded sightings of river otters in the San Francisco Bay Area were all about a half century ago and successful pairs could help restore the population to Bay Area waterways.