Fish enthusiasts, for instance, desire the extinction of
water-fowl--there is not a single aquatic bird which they do not accuse
of damage to fry, spawn, or full-grown fish; no, not one, from the heron
down to the tiny grebe. They are nearly as bitter against animals, the
poor water-vole (or water-rat) even is denounced and shot. Any one who
chooses may watch the water-rat feeding on aquatic vegetation; never
mind, shoot him because he's there. There is no other reason. Bitterest,
harshest, most envenomed of all is the outcry and hunt directed against
the otter. It is as if the otter were a wolf--as if he were as injurious
as the mighty boar whom Meleager and his companions chased in the days of
dim antiquity. What, then, has the otter done? Has he ravaged the fields?
does he threaten the homesteads? is he at Temple Bar? are we to run, as
the old song says, from the Dragon? The fact is, the ravages attributed
to the otter are of a local character. They are chiefly committed in
those places where fish are more or less confined. If you keep sheep
close together in a pen the wolf who leaps the hurdles can kill the flock
if he chooses. In narrow waters, and where fish are maintained in
quantities out of proportion to extent, an otter can work doleful woe.
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