By Canadian Press

Wandering river otter avoids trap in tiny downtown Vancouver park

Nov 21, 2018 | 9:52 AM

VANCOUVER — The wandering river otter with a taste for decorative and valuable koi carp has managed to elude a trap set Tuesday in hopes of removing it from a classical Chinese garden in Vancouver.

Officials with the Vancouver Park Board baited the humane trap with chicken and smeared a mat with fish oil to entice the otter in an effort to relocate the adventurous mammal to a more appropriate home in Stanley Park, about three kilometres away.

But a park board spokeswoman says the trap was empty Wednesday.

She says there’s still no solution to the mystery of how the otter found the tranquil ponds within the walled Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden at the edge of the city’s Chinatown.

The otter has had no trouble chasing down some of the large, and very old koi that live in the garden’s ponds, and is blamed for eating about five or six of them.

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While they try to catch the otter, park board and Vancouver Aquarium staff are also making plans to remove the roughly 11 large koi still remaining in the ponds.

The Canadian Press