We rely on reports of otter carcasses. Please check our website for what to do if you have found one. Location mapping is used to guide mitigation work on roads.
A unique long-term monitoring project, CUOP has conducted over two thousand post-mortem examinations of otters found dead in England or Wales since 1992. Samples and data are archived, providing an extensive and invaluable resource. Research is carried out in diverse fields including health, genetics, toxicology, parasitology, chemical communication and diet. As top of the aquatic food chain, the
05/06/2026
🌏5TH JUNE 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 one of the mammals that are most vulnerable to the impacts of water pollution.
27/05/2026
Happy World Otter Day from everyone at CUOP! We want to say a huge thank you to our funders and collection network who make what we do possible. In particular the Environment Agency and Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru / Natural Resources Wales who do equally amazing work in England and Wales for otters. From September to April we received 157 otters thanks to the brilliant people supporting our project. and Somerset Otter Group.
30/04/2026
I highly recommend training with Lee Jenkins , these courses will be excellent - Liz Chadwick
🦦 Ever wondered what otters get up to when no one’s watching?
Join us for a half‑day journey into their hidden world with expert ecologist Lee Jenkins, founder of the South Wales Otters Trust.
Across this immersive session, you’ll explore how otters live, feed, travel and shape their freshwater habitats. You’ll learn to spot the subtle signs they leave behind, and then head outdoors to put your new skills into practice.
📅 Dates: 10 May, 13 May, 7 June, 10 June
🕙 10:00–13:30
📍 Llanfoist Village Hall, NP7 9LP
Whether you’re a complete beginner or a keen wildlife enthusiast, this course opens the door to real conservation work, with opportunities to join an otter monitoring programme afterwards.
🦦 Come meet the otters of South Wales - and the people protecting them
Sign up here: https://mammal.org.uk/events
Photo credit: Will Strange
24/04/2026
🦦🦔🐿️🦫🦨🦇
Celebrate National Mammal Week with CUOP for all the incredible wild mammals in UK!🎉
20/04/2026
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. We are exploring next steps to investigate the potential cause, which is most likely to be a genetic abnormality, but could potentially be teratogenic chemicals. If there have been any other sightings of mammals with no hind limbs in the UK, we would love it if you could get in contact with us!
02/04/2026
Welcome our new placement student for April -- Tim Trautner!!🎉🦦
27/03/2026
On the 16th February Cardiff University Otter Project held a stall at the 'Be A Scientist' event in Sbarc|Spark. It was wonderful to meet some young aspiring scientists and introduce them to the Otter Project! 🦦
24/03/2026
Our new paper on mitogenome sequences from otter spraint, with Sarah and Jenny as joint first authors, has been featured in an article by phys.org!
Read the article here:
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-approach-dna-otters-disturbing.html
The original research paper that the press report is based on can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251299
18/03/2026
Introducing our newest member Solveig! She is a vet student from France here to learn about what we do and conduct a research project. 🦦
| Monday | 9:30am - 5:30pm |
| Tuesday | 9:30am - 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 9:30am - 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 9:30am - 5:30pm |
| Friday | 9:30am - 5:30pm |