Ask any commercial fisherman of the area, and the *3 Ss* apply to them.
Posted on 11/26/2018 12:02:42 PM PST by Gamecock
A total of 10 expensive koi fish have now been killed and eaten by the otter as of Sunday morning; there were previously 14 adult koi living in the ponds at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park in Chinatown.
As a result, staff at the Chinatown park have begun evacuating koi from the park’s ponds. On Saturday, crews moved in to begin rescue efforts.
So far, only one fish has been moved to the Vancouver Aquarium for safekeeping; koi are also difficult to capture so it remains unclear how long the evacuation will take though crews are working to relocate the remaining three fish. The one relocated koi took “several hours” to capture on Saturday, due to poor visibility in the water.
“It has been a difficult mission, trying to rescue our koi,” said Debbie Cheung, spokeswoman with the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park.
Cheung said it remains unknown whether Madonna, a 50-plus-year-old koi who had been at the park for the past 20 years, is among the remaining survivors.
The evacuation comes after an expert trapper was brought in late last week in an attempt to relocate the otter. Officials had been hoping to avoid relocating the koi, as draining the pond and moving the fish could cause stress and possible damage.
But after the otter was able to evade a set trap, stealing the bait and prancing off unscathed, officials are now forced to move the remaining koi.
It remains unclear exactly when and where the otter moved into the park earlier this month though its den has been located at the east end of the park. The park remains closed to the public until the otter can be relocated to the Fraser Valley, where it will be able to feast on salmon.
Cheung said there are plans to announce a fundraiser this coming week, to help with the cost of replacing the devoured koi. The colourful carp can cost anywhere from $10 for a small, young koi, up to thousands of dollars for show-grade, senior koi.
Earlier this year, a koi carp fish was sold at auction in Japan by breeder Kentaro Sakai for 203 million Yen ($2.4 million CAD), setting a new record.
Otter slaughter! Otter slaughter! Otter slaughter!
Ask any commercial fisherman of the area, and the *3 Ss* apply to them.
I'm otter here!
Hahaha! What a dilemma for the libs of the Pacific Northwest. Root for the wild, otter of their beloved nature or root for their beloved, sacred goldfish. This is a very funny story. (I’m with the otter.)
‘De-rish-us’
You win the thread!
“koi are also difficult to capture”....
Not for an otter!
No, they aren't. Teeny treble hook like the ones used for salmon eggs in trout fishing... baited with a grape. Works great for grass carp, too.
That’s funny- eagles usually don’t carry their prey in their beaks.
And koi have lots of babies...when the pond is overstocked, the babies get eaten, but when the population is down they grow up and voila more koi.
Just catch the otter and bno problem.
We have had two koi dieoffs in our pond, but within a year we have plenty.
However, they might not be the expensive tricolor ones.
This hits me where it hurts.
We used to have an amazing rescue cat who nearly died as a kitten when they spayed her months too early. She recovered and became the strongest healthiest cat. She could catch anything, the most amazing hunter I’d ever seen.
Our beloved elderly neighbor lost his wife. To me she was a sick, stooped old woman, but after she passed he bought a statue of a lovely nymph because it reminded him of her, and build a koi pond and filled it with expensive koi. He brought us around to show us, and it was beautiful.
A couple days later (you know where this is headed), on our back porch was a gift from our hunter cat. A giant, beautiful, very dead, koi fish. Which I had to then find an equally expensive replacement for. And allow the neighbor to string a little electric shock fence around his pond.
*might like this one, too, ping*
Cheung said it remains unknown whether Madonna, a 50-plus-year-old koi who had been at the park for the past 20 years, is among the remaining survivors.
I guess that's different from the non-remaining survivors.
Had a koi pond once, for about a day. After that, we had a frog pond.
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