National monitoring and research project. If you find a dead otter please call England: 03708 506 506, Wales: 0300 065 3000, Scotland: 01471 822 487

Cardiff, Wales
Joined March 2012
10th October was Global Animal Road Accident Awareness Day. Do your part and remember to report any sightings either on: the app: arcg.is/qSaHP or the online form: arcg.is/qSaHP The Road Lab: facebook.com/TheRoadLab theroadlab.co.uk/
1
61
While the death of our wildlife can be upsetting to hear about, this also means that we have samples and data from 5000 individuals that can be used to support conservation efforts as well as otter, wildlife, and environmental research!
1
39
We are so grateful to all our volunteers and partner organisations for taking the time and effort to contribute to our archives; a project on this scale would not be possible without all of you! 🦦 The 5000th otter was delivered by the Somerset Otter Group 🦦
19
doi.org/10.1007/s10344-026-0… In this new paper, led by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University in collaboration with the Otter Project, the authors present a novel method that estimates cub size relative to their mother using pixel measurements from camera-trap footage.
59
We would like to give a huge thank you to our 2025-26 placement year students, Sorrel, Sophie, and Sandy. Since September, they have helped lead several local engagement events and assisted in performing 194 postmortems. We wish them all the very best for the future!
54
Another engagement event😀!
49
We are proud to announce that we have received our Bronze LEAF certification. This reflects the project’s commitment to laboratory sustainability and reducing our environmental impact as part of the laboratory efficiency assessment framework (LEAF). Thank you to the LEAF team!
63
Introducing our second volunteer, Tom, who will help us over the summer!
49
Introducing our new volunteer, Iestyn, who will be joining us for the summer!
1
241
🌎️5TH JUNE 2026 WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY🌱 🍀🌸Contaminants disrupt the balance of the ecosystem, leading to direct harm to aquatic organisms and significant effects throughout the food web. 🦦🌊Apex predators such as otters are most vulnerable to the impacts of water pollution.
1
45
Happy World Otter Day from CUOP! We want to say a huge thank you to our collection network who make what we do possible. In particular @EnvAgency and @NatResWales who do equally amazing work in England and Wales. We received 157 otters thanks to the brilliant people supporting us
2
95
🦦🦔🐿️🦫🦨🦇 Celebrate National Mammal Week with CUOP for all the incredible wild mammals in UK!🎉
71
Otter #4801 is a juvenile found dead near Oxford. The otter was estimated to be approximately 2 months old, but lacked any development of hind limbs or pelvis.
1
2
213
We are exploring next steps to investigate the potential cause, which is most likely to be a genetic abnormality, but could be teratogenic chemicals. If there have been other sightings of mammals with no hind limbs in the UK, we would love it if you could get in contact with us!
1
1
143
Welcome our new placement student for April -- Tim Trautner!!🎉🦦
1
63