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The result was the formation of the New York River Otter Project, Inc. (ROP). It's a very unusual cooperative effort between state agencies, private businesses, schools, nonprofit organizations, and individuals, all working together to bring the otter back to New York State. "They were here before and they ought to be here again," says Bruce Penrod, a wildlife biologist with the state's Department of Environmental Conservation. "They're a part of our culture, a piece of the pie."
In fall 1995, the first year of the New York River Otter Project, twenty-one river otters were released at three different locations in the Northern Montezuma Wetlands Complex. The ROP is releasing between 180 and 270 river otters in nine locations in central and western New York State. The hope is that the otters will settle in, reproduce, and thrive.
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