The rapacious appetite for the Cauvery’s resources and all its associated exploitation — sand mining, dynamite fishing, and hydroelectric projects — have put in peril the ecosystem’s ‘top predator’, the otter.
The 200-km course of the Cauvery is perhaps one of the last strongholds for two species of otters, both categorised as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the smooth-coated otter Lutrogale perspicillata and the Asian small-clawed otter Aonyx cinereus (found only in Coorg).
Locally known as neer nai for its uncanny resemblance to a dog, these little-studied and highly sociable animals were once so extensively poached for their smooth coat, that for every tiger pelt seized, dozens of otter pelt seizures were reported, says Nisarg Prakash, researcher with the Nature Conservation Foundation.
“The demand for their pelts may have come down, but the otter’s position has never been more precarious,” he says. As the river’s banks and bed are exploited, the otter is fast losing the riverine islands, sand banks and vegetation they need for feeding, basking and mating, Mr. Prakash says.
“There is virtually no estimate of as to how many animals exist in the Cauvery yet. But, what is certain is that their status is highly threatened, and we could lose much of the population if conservation efforts are not made,” he says.
According to the IUCN, the population of both these species has plummeted by a third worldwide in the past 30 years.
