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A pack of otters has returned to the scene of a crime in a Cumbrian town after eating residents’ priced pond fish.
The otters became infamous in Ulverston after setting up in garden ponds and snatching Koi fish – some reportedly worth up to £30,000.
Residents jumped into action after several fish ended up on the otters’ menu, including those owned by Nigel Cooper.
He said he saw an otter kill seven of his fish in the middle of the night in early October before they escaped over a 5 ft fence into the night.
Nigel, who says he loves otters but thinks there are too many of them in the area, set up a social media group to monitor their antics.
To try and stop the animals, Nigel rolled chicken wire on top of the fence and ‘blocked every hole up’ he could find, he said.
And for weeks, the otters stayed away from the gardens, leading residents to think they had moved on.
However, new CCTV footage has now emerged showing the pesky hunters at it again.
Nigel said: ‘The dogs were barking and a light sensor I had fitted went off.
‘We only saw it for a split second because the dogs barking scared it away.
‘It’s a pretty big otter, it was quite plump as well.
‘I knew it would come back because if they know that there is food there, then they will try and get it again.’
The otters were unfazed even by electric fencing.
Footage shows an otter swimming in the pond in the early hours of Friday morning before it receives a shock from the electricity fence and escapes.
Nigel continued: ‘It was obviously shocked by the electric fence and didn’t like it, so that scared the otter away – which was a success.
‘I don’t know how it got in the garden though, I’ve got a six ft fence on one side and I’ve got vines up – that’s the only place it could have got in.
‘This is the first otter sighting we’ve had for two or three weeks – so it’s back.’
He said he has also trained his two Chihuahuas to bark at anything in the garden along with motion sensor lights.
The electric fence he put up is ‘harmless,’ he explained, adding that it ‘doesn’t hurt them apart from giving them a short zip.’
‘All the otter organisations I’ve spoken to have recommended that type – it gives them a short shock,’ he said.
Despite the battle to protect the fish, Nigel said he ‘absolutely loves’ otters.
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