On a blue-sky afternoon, kayakers paddle past dozens of sea lions lolling in the sun and make a beeline toward the sea otters lounging on beds of eel grass at Elkhorn Slough on California’s central coast. The playful predators not only generate millions of dollars in tourism revenue, but their voracious appetite for destructive species has revived this sprawling estuary while making the region’s carbon-sequestering kelp forests more resistant to climate change.
The U.S. government determined in 2022 that reintroducing sea otters to their historic range on the West Coast would be a boon to biodiversity and climate resilience, laying out a road map to restoration that would cost up to $43 million.
But as the Trump administration moves to slash funding for wildlife programs, a nonprofit co-founded by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur is stepping in to raise nearly that amount to finance and coordinate what would be a complicated, years-long effort to connect isolated populations of sea otters. So far it’s raised more than $1.4 million of its $40-million target.
“We are coming in at a time when we’ve seen these dramatic cuts from the federal government and conservationists are facing major funding gaps,” says Paul Thomson, chief programs officer at the Wildlife Conservation Network, the San Francisco nonprofit that launched the Sea Otter Fund earlier this year. In August, a veteran U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, Jen Miller, left the government to run the fund.
Sea otters prey on invasive green crabs, which fostered the return of eel grass at Elkhorn Slough.
(Rachel Bujalski/Bloomberg)
The initiative could be a harbinger of a future where private donors assume a more prominent role in financing and advancing wildlife restoration as climate impacts multiply.
While philanthropies have helped fund sea otter work, the Fish and Wildlife Service, which listed the Southern sea otter in California as threatened in 1977, assumes the cost of the species’ recovery as well as funding state and private research. “Sea otter recovery and supporting healthy coastlines go hand in hand, including finding ways to support the needs of our local fisheries,” a Wildlife Service spokesperson said in a statement, noting the agency has funded ongoing research.
Future support is uncertain, though, as the Trump administration proposes eliminating programs that underwrite sea otter science, including grants for state endangered species programs.
Understanding otter networks
Sea otters once inhabited the Pacific Rim from Japan to Mexico. By the turn of the 20th century, hunters had wiped out 99% of the population to satisfy demand for the animal’s pelt, known as “soft gold” for its luxurious warmth.
Since then, scientists successfully reintroduced otters to Alaska, British Columbia and Washington State, but that leaves a nearly thousand-mile stretch of coast from central California through Oregon without the animals.
“Adding sea otters completely changes the configuration of the food web and that has profound consequences for the structure of the nearshore ecosystem,” says Tim Tinker, an independent sea otter scientist who does research for the University of California at Santa Cruz.
He’s developing computer models to simulate the myriad factors that will determine where and which animals should be reintroduced, as well as risks and survival rates. Future versions of the model could also project the potential impact on fisheries.
The Sea Otter Fund is financing Tinker’s work, recruiting him to model restoration scenarios, the kind of research he previously has conducted with government funding. It’s the latest animal fund from the Wildlife Conservation Network, co-founded in 2002 by former software entrepreneur Charles Knowles. Ongoing campaigns fund the recovery of African elephants, lions, pangolins and other animals.
Michelle Staedler studies sea otters at Elkhorn Slough.
(Rachel Bujalski/Bloomberg)
The fund also underwrites marine biologist Michelle Staedler’s position on an Elkhorn Slough research team run out of UC Santa Cruz. “We’re really trying to understand the sea otters’ social networks,” she says.
Charting otters’ social graph is key to future restoration efforts. Past reintroductions have involved capturing random sea otters in the wild and relocating up to hundreds at a time, which resulted in high mortality of resettled animals. Of the 140 otters relocated off Southern California’s San Nicolas Island between 1987 and 1990 in a federally funded project, only about 15 animals initially survived. More than a quarter of the transported otters swam more than 150 miles back home.
Scientists say any future reintroductions will be highly targeted, selecting sea otters that are part of social groups whose bonds make them more likely to stay put and thrive. To lay that groundwork, Staedler spends a day on Elkhorn Slough twice a week, motoring through the estuary on an electric skiff to record the genders, locations, relationships, interactions, diets and caloric intake of tagged otters.
“Elkhorn Slough serves as a petri dish and the research work there will be critical for doing restoration,” says Knowles. State funding for that project has expired, however, and the Sea Otter Fund is considering replacing the loss.
Staedler keeps records of the sea otters on Elkhorn Slough.
(Rachel Bujalski/Bloomberg)
“This wave has been building”
Elkhorn Slough is California’s second-largest estuary, and the 7-mile-long outlet to Monterey Bay also serves as a real-time laboratory for how sea otters can rehabilitate degraded coastal ecosystems and benefit local economies.
In the early 1990s, invasive green crabs that made their way there destroyed eel grass meadows that serve as habitats for fish, shellfish, sea turtles and birds. Then a few sea otters began to venture in just as the Monterey Bay Aquarium began to release rehabilitated orphaned otters there. They feasted on the green crabs, consuming an estimated 120,000 of them a year, according to a 2024 paper.
As crab numbers plummeted, the eel grass returned and spawned an aquatic Serengeti. Today, there’s more than 120 sea otters at the estuary, which has fostered local ecotourism businesses that rent kayaks to visitors and take them on otter-spotting excursions, generating $5 million in revenues annually and creating more than 300 jobs, according to a 2023 study.
Kayakers approach a sea otter in Elkhorn Slough.
(Rachel Bujalski/Bloomberg)
Sea otters also have kept kelp-eating purple urchins in check on the central California coast when one of its other predators, the sunflower sea star, died off during a marine heat wave a decade ago. On California’s otter-less North Coast, the loss of sunflower sea stars wiped out more than 90% of the region’s kelp forests, triggering the collapse of fisheries.
But the competition that relocated otters’ prodigious appetites could pose to Northern California and Oregon commercial shellfish fishers worries Lori Steele, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Assn. “It’s very difficult to really fully understand and account for the potential damage to a shellfish population that a very small number of sea otters could do,” she says.
The Wildlife Service found that impacts on fishing communities pose the biggest risk of sea otter introduction. If relocation moves forward, the agency will conduct an extensive review and consultations with state and federal agencies and tribal groups.
Until then, Jen Miller, the senior manager of the Sea Otter Fund, aims to keep the money for the work flowing. “It feels like this wave has been building and building and with just the right resources could crest to surf sea otter restoration to success,” she says.
Hugam, Indian-administered Kashmir – Nasir Amin Bhat, 17, was barely ankle-deep in the water when his school friend and neighbour Adil Ahmad shouted from the riverbank on a breezy summer evening in May.
“Turn back! There’s something in the water.”
Across the Lidder, a tributary of the Jhelum River, in Hugam village of Indian-administered Kashmir’s Anantnag district, a Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) plunged into the glacial waters and started paddling furiously against the current with all four limbs.
“I had no idea what it was,” Bhat, a high school student, told Al Jazeera, “but I grabbed my smartphone and turned on the camera.”
The grainy, nine-second video shows the creature with a fur coat – classified as “near threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List – gliding out of the water and jumping onto the riverbank.
After a few clumsy steps, the semiaquatic animal, which can reach elevations of 3,660 metres (12,000 feet) in the Himalayas during the summer, disappears behind a thick grove of bushes, bringing the video to an uneventful end.
Eurasian otters used to thrive along the banks of the Lidder River, but rampant construction forced the semiaquatic animal to retreat [Jehangir Ali/Al Jazeera]
Long believed to have gone extinct, Eurasian otters seem to be showing signs of resurgence in Kashmir, with three individuals spotted by Indian wildlife officers in two places since 2023.
The chance sightings have excited environmentalists and wildlife conservationists while raising hopes of a better future for the Himalayan region’s fragile freshwater ecosystems, which have been battered by climate change in recent years.
‘Habitat has improved’
Indian wildlife biologist Nisarg Prakash believes the sighting of otters in Kashmir was an indicator of high-quality aquatic habitats.
“The reappearance of otters might mean that poaching has come down or the habitat has improved, and maybe both in some cases,” Prakash, whose work focuses on otters in southern parts of India, told Al Jazeera.
Protected under India’s Wildlife Protection Act, otters were once widely distributed across north India, including the Himalayan foothills, the Gangetic plains and parts of the northeast.
A peer-reviewed study by IUCN in November last year noted that the Eurasian otter, known among Kashmiri locals as “voddur”, was found in water bodies of Lidder and Jehlum valleys, including Wular Lake, one of Asia’s largest freshwater lakes.
Hugam village in Anantnag district, Indian-administered Kashmir [Jehangir Ali/Al Jazeera]
However, over the years, their population became “patchy and fragmented due to habitat loss, pollution and human disturbances”, says Khursheed Ahmad, a senior wildlife scientist at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K).
Ahmad said that, due to habitat alterations from human activities and the encroachment of their ideal habitats along riverbanks and other water bodies, Eurasian otters retreated and became confined to areas that were least accessible to humans.
“Although they were not extinct, sightings and occurrences had become extremely rare and they were never documented,” said Ahmad, who heads the Division of Wildlife Sciences at SKUAST-K.
Less than two years ago, a research team led by Ahmad accidentally stumbled on otters during a study on musk deer in Gurez, a valley of lush meadows and towering peaks split into two by the Kishanganga River along the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan in the Himalayas.
Past midnight on August 6, 2023, two individual otters were captured in a riverine habitat at an altitude of 2,600 metres (8,530 feet) in the valley near the 330MW Kishanganga Hydro Electric Project built by India following a prolonged legal battle with Pakistan at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
After that sighting, the research team focused on documenting the presence of otters on the Indian side of Kashmir.
“Unfortunately, due to heavy disturbance from fishing and other local and paramilitary activities, no further presence was documented,” the IUCN study notes.
Ahmed said Bhat’s video is only the second photographic evidence of otters in Kashmir.
‘Too terrified to go there’
But in the large farming village of Hugam, comprising some 300 families, residents are both excited and worried.
At the crack of dawn, Muneera Bano, a homemaker, wakes to the flutter of crows cawing furiously on the willow trees lining the tributary’s banks outside her home in Hugam, located some 58km (36 miles) south of the main city of Srinagar.
Bano has stopped washing clothes and utensils on the riverbank after the otter was discovered, something she had done for years.
“There are underwater caves [in the tributary], and it is hiding in one of them. When it comes out in the morning, crows see it and they start screaming. I am too terrified to go there,” she said.
Bhat, the teenager who filmed the video, said he often used to bathe in the tributary’s glacial waters and sometimes also caught fish. “Now I can’t even think about going there,” he said.
Nasir Amin Bhat captured the Eurasian otter on his mobile phone on May 28, 2025, when he was about to take a bath in the Lidder [Jehangir Ali/Al Jazeera]
The grainy video led to rumours about the presence of crocodiles in the tributary, prompting Indian wildlife officials to set up a camera trap, which confirmed that it was a Eurasian otter – also seen in Bhat’s video – and not a crocodile.
Some wildlife officials even bathed in the river in the presence of village elders to demonstrate that the water was completely safe.
Although otters do not pose any threat to humans, they can turn unpredictable, especially when close to humans. But scientists say these animals can grow accustomed to the presence of humans.
Wildlife biologist Prakash said rather than being scared or fearful, curiosity about otters can make them a sight to be enjoyed while watching them fish or swim.
“Otters are largely active around dawn, dusk and after dark, though they can sometimes be seen during daytime as well. Eurasian otters largely prey on fish, eels, and sometimes, waterfowl,” he said.
Kashmiri farmer Wasim Ahmad remembers a summer day in the early 1990s when he was on the way back from school situated along the banks of Doodhganga, a major tributary of the Jhelum River.
As Ahmad, now in his 40s, turned the corner, he saw a large procession of people walking jubilantly. One man was holding a dead otter while another was walking a dog on a leash.
Bagh-e-Mehtab in Srinagar is home to a community of poachers who, in the past, made a living by selling skins of animals such as cats, otters, and other animals. With stricter animal welfare laws in force in India now, the community has given up the old profession.
“Our elders warned us that otters skinned the children and ate them raw,” said Ahmad, who was in ninth grade then. “But as I grew up, I didn’t come across even one person who was harmed by otters. It was basically a tactic to keep the children away from the river.”
Ahmad, the wildlife scientist, said the reappearance of otters in Kashmir was a positive sign.
“Now we should see to it that the new habitat is protected from uncontrolled pollution, garbage accumulation, increased carbon emissions and habitat degradation. Addressing these challenges is crucial for their conservation and wellbeing,” he told Al Jazeera.
Idyllic hidden beach in the UK is an oasis of calm with golden sand and turquoise sea ‘like the Caribbean’ – one visitor felt like they’d ‘died and gone to heaven’ after finding the bay
The area, home to the hidden beach, has been described as one of the most spectacular wildlife locations on the planet. Wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin set out to capture iconic species like red deer, pine martens, white tailed sea eagles and puffins that live on his doorstep(Image: Channel 4)
A lesser-known beach gem in the UK with sparkling turquoise sea and white sandy beaches is a haven for nature lovers. The stunning scenery and views have been likened to the Caribbean by some, while another visitor said they thought they’d “died and gone to heaven” after visiting the beauty spot.
Beautiful rare eagles circle the spot and otters duck and dive in the sea – you may spot them if you’re lucky. The large bay is a fantastic family day out, a romantic spot for couples, or a chilled place for solo visitors – Sanna Bay in Scotland has been praised time and time again for its amazing scenery.
The beach can be reached by a delightful coastal walk, however it is also accessible by car – and a short walk over dunes down to the sand and sea. A rocky headland, sand dunes and cliffs surround four sandy beaches in this most western point of mainland Britain, described as a “Scottish oasis”.
Located on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the Scottish Highlands, this is a great place for observing wildlife, reports Wild About Lochaber. There are also holiday cottages, camping options and places to stay in the nearby area for an unforgettable away-from-home experience.
The wild area where the hidden beach is situated has several places relatively nearby to stay in (Image: www.unique-cottages.co.uk)
The Wild About Lochaber website describes Sanna Bay as “one of the most stunning beaches on the Ardnamurchan peninsula”. The dune cliffs “reach up to 3m in height” and there is a unique sand isthmus – a narrow piece of land – “connected to a low rocky platform”.
Wild About Lochaber detailed the uniqueness of this beauty spot: “Sanna Bay is renowned for its stunning scenery, white sandy beaches and clear turquoise seas. The bay also offers some fabulous views of Ardnamurchan Point and The Small Isles.
“In spring and summer, the dunes are a riot of colour. This is a great place for wildlife watching. Look out for butterflies nectaring on the machair flora, dragonflies and damselflies scouting the wee burn, sand martens nesting in the dune cliffs, coastal birds and otters foraging along the shoreline.
“You can also scan the coastal cliffs for a good chance of seeing white-tailed eagle. There are also some lovely rock pools waiting to be explored by the young and older alike.”
They added the stunning beach “is popular with botanists, wildlife watchers, walkers, geologists, artists, and photographers”, describing it as a “great place to explore and enjoy”. One TripAdvisor reviewer wrote that “Sanna Beach is akin to the Caribbean in Scotland”.
A review of Sanna Beach by JJC said: “The walk was about five minutes over the sand dunes to the beach. Once there…wow, wow wow. The water was turquoise, the sand pure white.
“If the temperature was higher it could have been the Caribbean. Behind us were about 10 wild swimmers who jumped into the water. I can highly recommend Sanna Beach.”
Another claimed they thought they’d “died and gone to heaven” after a visit to the spot. In a TripAdvisor review the visitor wrote: “No pubs, cafes or shops but who cares, this is one of the most stunning white sand beaches in Scotland.
“With the beautiful blue and turquoise sea you could be in the Bahamas . A great place for a walk, take photos or just sit and enjoy the view.”
Brits looking for staycation inspiration make want to check out a beautiful UK seaside town where you can see puffins, seals and even whales if you’re lucky
North Berwick is worth having on your radar for a staycation(Image: Getty Images/Westend61)
A picturesque UK seaside town is worth having on your radar if you love wildlife, as it can be a great place to spot the likes of puffins, otters, seals and even whales and dolphins.
North Berwick in Scotland, just half an hour away from Edinburgh, has long been a firm-favourite with birdwatchers thanks to its renowned Seabird Centre. Visitors can take a series of boat trips between April and the end of September to surrounding islands as well as birdwatching hotspots, and keep an eye out for the likes of gannets, gulls, terns and more.
Meanwhile, puffins remain a big draw for tourists in the area. The best time to spot them is between March and August, with the Isle of May playing home to one of the largest puffin colonies in the UK (you can also find puffins on other Scottish islands such as Fidra, Craigleith, St Kilda, Orkney and Shetland). Meanwhile, Bass Rock is home to the world’s largest Northern gannet colony, and makes for a very impressive sight.
You could spot puffins on a boat trip from the charming seaside town(Image: Getty Images)
Plenty of visitors have taken to Tripadvisor to praise the Seabird Centre’s boat trips, and noted that they spotted everything from puffins to dolphins and even the occasional whale during their holidays. In fact, it’s also worth keeping your eyes peeled for the impressive basking sharks that have been known to make an appearance too!
“We did the Bass Rock and Craigleith catamaran trip and saw lots of gannets, puffins, kittiwakes, eider ducks, seals and many more,” one visitor wrote earlier this year. “Our guide was excellent, can highly recommend this 1h 15min trip, it didn’t feel rushed and the boat rotated so we all got a chance to see everything.”
Another added: “Even on a cold rainy miserable day the scenery is beautiful the whole sea front just looks completely different than when the sun is shining.”
North Berwick also plays host to a series of fun events throughout the year, whether you want to watch locals take on impressive feats during the Highland Games, watch entertaining shows at the Fringe by the Sea festival, or want to go all-in on a bird-themed getaway during the town’s annual Puffin Fest.
Still, it’s not just the wildlife that makes North Berwick such a tempting destination to visit. The charming town is home to heaps of pretty tea rooms, classic fish and chip shops, ice cream parlours and coffee spots, as well as plenty of shops and hotels. The harbour is also well worth a visit especially at sunset for those Instagram-worthy views.
On the sunnier days, you can also take in gorgeous coastal setting from the town’s picturesque beaches including Gullane Bents, Seacliff beach, North Berwick Milsey Bay and North Berwick West Beach to name a few. Meanwhile, there are also historic castles and ruins to discover, with plenty of scenic walks and hikes in the area if you want to get those 10,000 steps in.
You can find out more about North Berwick and its wildlife on visitscotland.com.
