“Should chance within this dark recess betray
The tender young, bear quick the prize away;
Tamed by thy care the useful brood shall join
The watery chase, and add their toils to thine;
From each close lurking hole shall force away,
And drive within the nets the silver prey;
As the taught hound the nimble stag subdues,
And o’er the dewy plain the panting hare pursues.”
Mr Macgillivray, in his interesting volume on British Quadrupeds in the Naturalist’s Library, mentions several instances of otters having been tamed and employed in fishing. Among others he relates that a gentleman residing in the Outer Hebrides had one that supplied itself with food, and regularly returned to the house. M’Diarmid, in his “Sketches from Nature,” enumerates many others. One otter belonging to a poor widow, “when led forth plunged into the Urr, and brought out all the fish it could find.” Another, kept at Corsbie House, Wigtonshire, “evinced a great fondness for gooseberries,” fondled “about her keeper’s feet like a pup or kitten, and even seemed inclined to salute her cheek, when permitted to carry her freedoms so far.” A third, belonging to Mr Montieth of Carstairs, “though he frequently stole away at night to fish by the pale light of the moon, and associate with his kindred by the river side, his master of course was too generous to find any fault with his peculiar mode of spending his evening hours. In the morning he was always at his post in the kennel, and no animal understood better the secret of ‘keeping his own side of the house.’ Indeed his pugnacity in this respect gave him a great lift in the favour of the gamekeeper, who talked of his feats wherever he went, and averred besides, that if the best cur that ever ran ‘only daured to girn’ at his protegé, he would soon ‘mak his teeth meet through him.’ To mankind, however, he was much more civil, and allowed himself to be gently lifted by the tail, though he objected to any interference with his snout, which is probably with him the seat of honour.”
Mr Glennon, of Suffolk-street, Dublin, informs me that Mr Murray, gamekeeper to his Grace the Duke of Leinster, has a tame otter, which enters the water to fish when desired, and lays whatever he catches with due submission at his master’s feet. Mr Glennon further observes, that the affection for his owner which this animal exhibits is equal or even superior to that of the most faithful dog. The creature follows him wherever he goes, will suffer him to lift him up by the tail and carry him under his arm just as good-humouredly as would a dog, will spring to his knee when he sits at home, and seems in fact never happy but when in his company. This otter is well able to take care of himself, and fearlessly repels the impertinent advances of the dogs: with such, however, as treat him with fitting respect, he is on excellent terms. Sometimes Mr Murray will hide himself from this animal, which will immediately, on being set at liberty, search for him with the greatest anxiety, running like a terrier dog by the scent. Mr Glennon assures me that he has frequently seen the animal thus trace the footsteps of its master for a considerable distance across several fields, and that too with such precision as never in any instance to fail of finding him.