Conservation activities for the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) in South Korea traced from newspapers during 1962–2010

Within its wide range, populations of the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) have declined, mostly in Europe, and have only begun to re-establish after effective regulation of persistent organic pollutants in their habitat. In South Korea, otter populations have also recovered in response to improved environmental conditions and conservation programmes. Scientific research and public awareness have both facilitated conservation efforts to restore otter populations in South Korea, but how changing public attitudes to conservation have contributed to otter recovery is unknown. Because historic newspaper articles can reveal such changes, we categorised the 5168 newspaper articles about otters from 1962 to 2010 into five topics (occurrence, ecotourism, conflict, research, and restoration) and geo-tagged any otter locations mentioned to a 15 × 15 km grid to compare with the otter distribution established by five scientific surveys. Since 2000, the number of newspaper articles about conflicts between otters and urban development, and the roles of otters in encouraging eco-tourism have increased significantly. About 12% of grid squares with otters were reported only in newspaper articles, mostly in urban areas, which were under-represented in the scientific surveys that focused more on forested areas. The increase over time in the otter occurrence rate reported in urban areas suggests that high citizen interest in occurrence could be basis for understanding the ecological importance of human-carnivore coexistence. As for understanding importance of conservation, otters are a good example of a resource for establishing conservation strategies and citizen education for effective conservation.