Posted by Matt Dowell on December 12, 2002 at 20:24:17:
In Reply to: Re: "But I don't want the otters back" Seahunt posted by seahunt on December 11, 2002 at 18:48:50:
Seahunt, I appreciate and respect your diving experience. However, I take issue with the label of otters as "cute, furry ecological disasters"and the statement "Otters are many times as destructive to the reef life as humans are." I have a hard time accepting that an animal that has been around for one to three million years is out of step with its environment and lives in a state of perpetual starvation. In healthy ecosystems, I cannot think of any animal besides man that is out of equilibrium with its environment. I can accept the fact that you dont find areas where sea otters are abundant to be aesthetically pleasing, but to assert that they are "ecological disasters" is wrong.