They're gone...

It has been almost 4 months since I last saw an otter here. For me to go that length of time without a sighting is completely without precedent. It's not simply me picking the wrong days for my sessions – no one else has reported seeing an otter in the bay during this whole time, either. The otters' den sites also show no signs of use.

Slick, in particular, is conspicuous by his absence. He was the last real resident otter at Trinidad Bay. For a while now, I've had to accept that if anything ever happened to him, that would probably be the end of it. (Mother and Pup were never more than visitors here, and I haven't seen either of them in almost half a year.) Now, I don't know if Slick's alive or dead, all I know is, he is not here, and hasn't been for some time.

So my worst fear has finally come to pass. There are no otters here anymore. Twenty-five years after I found them, the Trinidad otters are gone...