River otters observed within Anchorage city limits.
Observation by Grace Graham:
I bike the Chester Creek Trail four times a week for work. Three river otters appeared right by the trail just east of the Gambell tunnel. When they saw me, I could hear them scurry back down the bank and splash into the creek. I had never seen or heard of river otters in Chester Creek and it seemed strange to see them in such an urban environment (they would have had to travel through several culverts and dodged quite a bit of trash too).
Comments from LEO Editors:
This is the second observation LEO has received this year about river otter sightings along the Anchorage trail system. Abby Nelson also saw river otters in University Lake, wondering if they had followed migrating salmon.
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game River Otter Species Profile, river otters can be found across most of Alaska except for the Aleutian Islands, offshore islands in the Bering Sea, and the North Slope. In September of 2018, river otters were also seen within Anchorage city limits, frolicking in Ship Creek. Erica Lujan