P.E.I. wildlife groups boost number of trail cams tracking animals — including elusive river otters

Nancy Russell · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Prince Edward Island wildlife groups are progressively turning to exertion to show what's happening successful woods and streams crossed the Island. 

The Forests, Fish and Wildlife part has 40 cameras watching year-round for trends successful wildlife species, including coyotes and foxes. 

"We get a batch of neat behavioural photos similar coyotes looking astatine the camera," said Matt Ginn, wildlife biologist. "Also, we've got a fewer reddish fox with snowshoe hare, which is interesting. So we cognize that they're capable to find snowshoe hare for food.

"You get families of pheasants, grouse and Hungarian partridge."

Ginn said the way cameras are an important instrumentality for wildlife officials.

"These taxon haven't truly been monitored, speech from fur-harvesting statistics, connected P.E.I.," helium said. "It's a bully indicator of the beingness of these taxon connected the Island.

"It's astir apt the champion mode truthful acold that we've had to quantify their occupancy successful definite areas and besides look astatine changes successful the colonization and extirpation rates."

Ginn said they're starting to spot immoderate trends since 2020, including a flimsy diminution successful reddish fox numbers and an summation successful coyotes.

Return of stream otters

Meanwhile, 8 much cameras were added this twelvemonth to a task by watershed groups from Souris to Miminegash, looking for stream otters.

Due to hunting and situation loss, stream otters person been presumed extinct, oregon extirpated, connected the Island since the aboriginal 1900s.  

There were lone anecdotal reports of tracks and sightings until 2016, erstwhile an big antheral otter was captured successful a beaver trap successful the Kensington area.

The archetypal camera was acceptable up successful the aforesaid country successful 2019, and stream otters person been seen successful aggregate photos since then.

The Morell River Management Cooperative said it mightiness person captured a stream otter connected its way cam successful March 2024, though the representation isn't wide capable to corroborate the species.

"It was precise exciting," said co-ordinator Hannah Murnaghan. "We privation it was a small person to the camera, but we're holding retired anticipation that we'll yet seizure 1 if they are successful the watershed."

While looking for grounds of otters, watershed groups get to observe tons of different birds and mammals.

The cameras are triggered by movement, truthful unit person to spell done tons of photos to find the bully ones.

"It's ever breathtaking to get to spell done the footage successful hopes that we bash drawback a stream otter, but it usually is conscionable the accustomed suspects of wildlife that we get," said biology tract technician Lily Corlett. 

"We person gotten truly bully images of species, [from] waterfowl to tiny mammals, similar American mink and large bluish herons."

To safeguard the privateness of humans, Ginn said the state posts signs on with its way cams, letting radical cognize they are there, and some helium and the Morell radical said immoderate photos captured of radical oregon vehicles are deleted.

The Morell radical would similar to get a fewer much way cams, due to the fact that it's a large watershed and they person tons of territory to cover. 

"Having the cameras retired conscionable gives america a amended knowing of what antithetic taxon are utilizing the riparian area, truthful that we tin strategically program our projects astir that and hopefully supply amended situation for them," Murnaghan said.