Sleek long bodies jumped into the waters by Mission Bay Plaza, Boca Raton. These were not water rats. These were river otters. The last time I’d seen them alive was about 15 years ago while I was on horseback and the otters were in the canals in the woods. My first reaction to seeing them was fondness for the creatures. Secondly, I worry for them. River otters and human shopping plazas are not bedsheet buddies. The humans are mortal enemies to the south Floridian river otter. The last one I saw was a bloodied frisbee in shape, squashed and dead.
Years earlier, when I had woods to horseback ride through, river otters played. My horse who often jumped sideways at a frog croak, had no reaction to these sleekies running around. The canals were a deep murky green. Years of leaves dropped into the clear waters sucked the tannin out of the leaves, leaving soft debris on the canal bottom (mucky yucky stuff to step in) and green/brown colored waters.
That day I drew this ink pen sketch, the waters were completely calm. One river otter paddled down the length of the canal. The water crested at its head and broke into silky concentric ribbons. Uncial hand is the calligraphy choice. Its soft curves and short capitals reminded me of the long body and short legs of the river otter. My version of uncial is a modern interpretation.
I have mostly seen them in pairs. The saddest sight I had of otters is seeing two of them killed on State Road 441. One was several yards away from the other. It seemed as if the one died and the mate came to find it and then also getting killed by cars. It was terrible.
And then I didn’t see any for years until this month’s cold snap. The pair were running around the east water pond beneath the Mission Bay sign. Perhaps it is time that humans mission to share our world with the river otter.