快猫短视频

OTTER. The very name signifies water in the long-forgotten roots of the
English language. Their amphibious lifestyle was once so familiar that
Shakespeare had Falstaff liken one slippery character, 鈥渘either fish nor flesh鈥�,
to an otter. And a manuscript from 1654 reveals that 鈥渁 Knight, half-Spiritual,
half-Temporal鈥� was a kind of otter, too.

Yet by the late 1970s, otters were no longer in the mainstream of Britain鈥檚
landscape鈥攏either the literary nor the literal one. In fact, they had very
nearly become wholly spiritual. Otters looked like joining the ranks of beavers,
bears, wolves and wild boars as British has-beens. Persecuted by fishermen,
hunted by otter hounds, poisoned by pesticides and made homeless by river
engineering, they were certainly not enjoying life in the 20th century.

Only now are otters slowly reclaiming their old haunts. And it鈥檚 not proving
a wholly trouble-free return. In my home town of Lewes, in Sussex, which was
badly damaged by floods in October, I鈥檓 saddened to learn that otters have been
suffering too. When water levels are high, they can鈥檛 swim under low bridges or
long, narrow culverts under roads. They take to the land and are forced to cross
busy roads. Many are killed. In response, a new road sign now adorns the bridge
over the Lymington River in Hampshire: 鈥淥tters Crossing/Drive Slowly鈥�.

Well, it鈥檚 a start. But you can see why a British-based environmental charity
felt it had to up the ante a little. In celebration of the otter鈥檚 return,
Common Ground has commissioned a choral work and plans to give it a
premi猫re at Wimborne Minster, in Dorset. Appropriately, the ancient
church is close to the otter鈥檚 ancient stronghold, the River Stour. Paul Hyland,
a graduate biologist turned poet, has collaborated with Common Ground鈥檚 music
animateur Helen Porter and scores of local residents and schoolchildren to
create the work.

Odes to larks ascending may not be new, but for otters, musical tributes are
a real novelty. Are we fumbling our way towards a less destructive relationship
with these beautiful, clever beasts? Angela King, co-founder of Common Ground,
is certainly optimistic. She knows otters well, having spent years scouring
Britain鈥檚 rivers for signs of them. Even now, she says she finds it hard to
drive over a bridge without stopping to look underneath it for
spraints鈥攖he otter鈥檚 distinctive droppings.

As Friends of the Earth鈥檚 first wildlife campaigner, King dreamed up 鈥淪ave
the Whale鈥濃�攁 catch phrase that instantly conjures up an entire global
movement. One of the animals that got caught up in such campaigns was the otter,
when otter-hunting was banned in England and Wales in 1978. The task was then to
persuade riparian landowners and water authorities to make rivers once again fit
for otters.

After an uphill struggle, they have started to get the message. You can see
why Common Ground tells its volunteer singers: 鈥淥tters need your voice.鈥� So
altogether now, let鈥檚 join them, the Wimborne locals and schoolchildren, in a
rousing rendering of: 鈥淥tter returns now, almost unsung, so we sing the otter,
back to the otter world, water world . . .鈥�