BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Fifteen years after Indiana began releasing hundreds of river otters in waterways statewide, wildlife biologists say the furry mammals once considered extinct in the state are now thriving — and multiplying.

At southern Indiana’s Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge near Seymour, park ranger Donna Stanley estimates that the 25 otters released there have reproduced with such success that several hundred of the critters now call the area home.

The playful, semi-aquatic animals are one of the main reasons people visit the national wildlife refuge. Visitors see the otters very often, Stanley said.

“It’s a big attraction out here,” she said. “They are very playful animals. And they are just cute, to be honest.”

River otters were officially considered extinct in Indiana in 1942, as a result of trapping, habitat destruction and water pollution.

In 1995, state wildlife officials began releasing otters captured in Louisiana into several locations in Indiana. A total of 303 otters had been set loose at 12 sites by the time the releases ended in 1999.

The otters are now well established in the state because of the reintroduction effort, said Scott Johnson, wildlife biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Fish and Wildlife. He calls the program “a tremendous success.”

“We kind of had a sense that it would be a successful program and it certainly has done that,” Johnson said.

Otters have since expanded across the state and are now found in watersheds in more than 70 percent of the state’s counties. They were listed as a state endangered species until 2005, and are now considered a protected species.

The otters, which are members of the weasel family, range from 12 to 25 pounds as adults. They are covered with a thick, protective coat of fur that helps keep them warm during their forays into rivers and streams in search of food.

At Muscatatuck, the otters spend the winter months sliding on the ice, popping their heads in and out of the water.

Although their quizzical and curious behavior attracts visitors, Johnson warns that they are still wild animals.

“I have learned a healthy respect when working for them,” he said.

Aside from Muscatatuck, the DNR also released river otters during the 1990s at Patoka Lake, Patoka State Fish and Wildlife Area, Tippecanoe River State Park, the Upper Wabash River near Wabash and several other sites.

Posted 4/12/2010