Writer finds otter living in Watson Trail Park

There has been magic happening at Watson Trail Park, ever since Brad Sayler and Joe Martin built an elf house by the bank to watch over the ducks, dragonflies, turtles and fish.

Myra and I, and Chloe, our golden retriever, love that park. On Nov. 12, we were walking past the pond at dusk. I saw a big swirl in the water. A mom and son were fishing on the pontoon dock the Boy Scouts built.

“There is an otter in the pond,” the mom said.

Fortunately, I had my Sony A65 camera with a 35mm lens. Sure enough, there was an otter lounging on the pontoon duck house Brad and Joe built.

I love otters. They are so much fun to watch. Watson Trail is an otters’ paradise. They have a pond full of fish and crayfish to eat. The cement runoff for the pond is an ideal slide for an otter.

Brad told me that he has received reports of Swirl the otter since August. One woman thought Swirl was wounded on the duck beach. When a staff member approached, Swirl rolled over on his back but disappeared into dark water when he bent over.

A few days later I went back to the pond and I noticed that the ducks were swimming freely. They were no longer huddled up on the other side of the bridge, afraid of something coming from the deep to eat them.

Most people I talk to consider an otter to be a nuisance. They think that an otter will eat all the fish in the pond and all the ducks. People are also worried that their children might be bitten.

I called Patrice Payatt, the regional wildlife expert for the Missouri Department of Conservation. She told me otters can travel several miles. Because of all the rain we’ve had, Swirl might have been displaced. Payatt also told me that otters eat all the fat lazy fish. They rarely eat ducks and live mostly on crayfish.

Watson Trail allows fishing. I was concerned that Swirl would be hooked. That would be traumatic for Swirl and the fisherman alike.

On Dec. 2, I spotted Sayler and two coworkers fixing the aerator pump for the pond. They saw several swirls in the pond, indicating Swirl the otter had moved right back in.

I am hoping Jason Hanneken, the superintendent of Sunset Hills parks, will have a welcome home party for Swirl the otter sometime.

Chaplain Vince Stanley is a guest writer for The Call. He moved to St. Louis in 1996 to attend Concordia Seminary. After graduating, he was called to serve at Northview Village Nursing Home and Truman Restorative Center. In 2006 he was transferred to the Buzz Westfall Justice Center in Clayton. He retired in 2019.