Otterenery(?)

[foresterj 1,096]

1851. When therefore the otter is taken youttg, we are warranted in asserting it may be tamed and rendered a very useful and obedient servant, particularly in the catching of fish. Aldrovandus, from Albertus Magma,assures us that otters were very commonly kept for that purpose in his time; and he also tells us that at a signal from the cook an otter would immediately set out, catch fish, and bring it home that it might be dressed. Taking fish by means of tame otters is likewise noticed by Vaniere, in the Pradium Rusticum. Buffon also, who had long been sceptical on this subject, became convinced of its reality by facts; and himself details the habits of a female otter which had been reared on milk until it was two months old, when it was afterwards fed on soup, fruits, pulse, animal food, and fish; but which latter, in accordance with its nature, it would not eat unless fresh. It was as tame as a dog, came when called, played with a dog, and also ate with the one it was accustomed to, but was furious against any strange one which approached it. This otter, however, had no piscatory talents, and its natural habits were so lost in its early domestication, that it would not willingly even enter the water. It is rather a curious circumstance, that the Romish church permits the use of otter's flesh on maigre days; and Mr. Pennant says that he actually saw one preparing in the kitchen of the Carthusian convent near Dijon, for the dinner of the religieuse of that order, whose tenets oblige them to renounce the eating of flesh during their lives. The rankness of the flesh of the otter could have been tolerated by none but a truly piscivorous appetite; and the eating of the otter under the semblance of fish, might be truly called " cheating the devil."

[Jedi Master 30]

I didn't really get a word of that but the title is mint

[paulus 26]

Cormorantenery

 

 

Cormorant Fishermen

 

Cormorant fishing at night Cormorant fisherman fish off row boats, motorized boats and bamboo rafts. They can fish day or night but usually don't fish on rainy days because the rain muddies the water and makes it difficult for the cormorants to see. On rainy days and extremely windy days, fishermen repair their boats and nets.

In a study of cormorant fishing, researchers found that cormorant fishermen were the least prosperous of three groups of fishermen. The wealthier group were families who owned large boats and owned large nets. Below them were fishermen who used poles with hundreds of hooks.

Some cormorant owners signal their birds with whistles, claps and shouts. Others affectionately stroke and nuzzle their birds as if they were dogs. Some feed the birds after every seven fish they catch (one researcher observed birds stopping after the seventh fish, which she concluded meant they count to seven). Other cormorant owners keep the rings on their birds all the time and feed them pieces of fish.

 

Fishing Cormorants

 

Chinese fisherman use great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) bred and raised in captivity. Japanese fisherman prefer Temmenick's cormorants (Phalacrocorax capillatus), which are caught in the wild on the southern shore of Honshu using decoys and sticks that bind instantly to the birds legs.

Fishing cormorants usually catch small fish but they can gang up and catch larger fish. Groups of 20 or 30 birds have been observed catching carp that weigh more than 59 pounds. Some birds are taught to catch specific prey such as yellow eel, Japanese eel and even turtles.

Cormorants can live to the age of 25. Some birds get injured and catch infections or die of hypothermia. The disease that Chinese fishermen fear the most is referred to as the plague. The birds usually lose their appetite, get very sick and there is nothing anyone can do. Some fishermen pray at temples; other seek the help of shaman. In so me places dying birds are euthenized with 60-proof alcohol and buried in a wooden box.

 

Raising and Training Fishing Cormorants

 

Trained cormorants go for between $150 and $300 a piece. Untrained ones cost about $30 when they are six months old. For these fishermen carefully inspect the bird feet, beak and body to determine their swimming and fishing ability.

In the Guilin area fisherman use great cormorants caught in Shandong, a coastal province near Beijing. Captives females produce about eight to ten eggs incubated by brood hens. After the cormorants hatch they are feed eel blood and bean curd and pampered and kept warm.

Fishing cormorants reach maturity at age two. They are taught how to fish using a reward and punishment system in which food is given or withheld. They usually begin fishing when they are one year old.

 

Descriptions of Cormorant Fishing

 

The earliest known reference to cormorant fishing comes from a Sui Dynasty (A.D. 581-618) chronicle. It read: "In Japan they suspend small rings from the necks of cormorants, and have them dive into the water to catch fish. In one day they can catch over a hundred." The first referenced in China was written by historian Tao Go (A.D. 902-970).

 

 

In 1321, Friar Oderic, a Franciscan monk who walked to China from Italy wearing a hair shirt and no shoes, gave the first detailed account by a Westerner of cormorant fishing: "He led me to a bridge, carrying in his arms with him certain dive-droppers or water-fowls [cormorants], bound to perches and about every one of their necks he tied a thread, lest they should eat the fish as fast as they took them, Oderic wrote. "He loosened the dive-droppers from the pole, which presently went into the water, and within less than the space of one hour, caught as many fish as filled three baskets; which being full, my host untied the threads from about their necks, and entering the second time into the river they fed themselves with fish, and being satisfied, they returned and allowed themselves to be bound to their perches, as they were before."

Describing cormorant fishing by a man named Hunag in the Guilin area, an AP reporter wrote in 2001: at the front of a bamboo raft, "his four cackling cormorants huddle together, preening feathers with long beaks or stretching wings. When he finds a promising spot Hun sets a net around the raft, about 30 feet out to hem fish in...Hung jumps up and down a few times on the raft to break the bird's reverie. They snap to attention and jump into the water."

"Huang barks a command and the birds dive like arrows; they paddle furiously underwater chasing fish. Occasionally, fish jump up from the water, sometimes right over the raft, in their effort to escape....A minute or two elapses before cormorants's pointy heads and sleek necks bob up above the water. Some clutch fish. Some catch nothing. Hung plucks them from the water and onto his raft with his boat pole."

Image Sources: 1) Beifan.com http://www.beifan.com/; 2, 3) Travelpod; 4) China Tibet Information; 5) Birdquest, Mark Beamon; 6) Jane Yeo Tours ; 7, The Wanderer Years ; 9) WWF; 10) Nolls China website http://www.paulnoll.com/China/index.html

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Comptons Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

© 2008 Jeffrey Hays

Last updated April 2012

[foresterj 1,096]

Anyone spot a pattern forming

[paulus 26]

Anyone spot a pattern forming

that would be a patternenery

[TOMO 26,621]

What next then

 

Weaselenry,,,,, stoatenry,,,, and my personal faveriout squirrelenry,,,,,there used to collect nuts ....lol

[gnipper 6,525]

I'm currently trying to start pigeonery but my pouters aren't playing ball.

[GreyRake 108]

Grey squirrel control using martenry would be fun

[ands 550]

Well ill be bugeryd !! lol

[Minkenry 1,044]

Reading about otters being used to capture fish is what made me originally want to try it with a mink. It was this book that introduced me to the idea of catching fish with an otter....

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sporting-Chance-Unusual-Methods-Hunting/dp/B00005WXSW

 

In the book it also describes the author's failed attempt at ferreting muskrat. His ferrets were quite the accomplished little ratters, but they met their match when he tried them on muskrats. He almost lost his poor ferret when the muskrat split its head open with its big beaver like teeth.

 

This also made me want to try hunting with a mink all the more, as I new from having both ferrets and mink that a mink was considerably quicker, stronger, tougher, and meaner than any ferret. I then researched about wild mink a little more and found that they actually preyed on muskrat in nature. That made me want to try it even more than before, as I new it was a natural activity for them!

 

Here's a video of some fishing otters...

 

http://youtu.be/Ha6dYkJFVZg

 

 

This is how the original fishing otters worked, but when this practice was discovered by explorers from the British Isles many thousand years ago, they took the idea back, and changed it to more of a falconry style sport where the otters were trained, rather than tied up, and they caught the fish, instead of just chasing them into nets.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Minkenry

[Minkenry 1,044]

Here is a really cool BBC documentary on a lady raising a South American River Otter in preparation for its release. It is super interesting to watch.

 

This video has a bunch of sections, and here is section one. You should be able to find each section and watch the whole thing piece by piece...

 

[Guest vin]

What next then

 

Weaselenry,,,,, stoatenry,,,, and my personal faveriout squirrelenry,,,,,there used to collect nuts ....lol

 

I bet there's a few people trying to aquire pet skunks now

[perthshire keeper 1,239]

ive had a pet otter, had honey for 2 years when i was keepering in a static caravan.. it was tame ,house trained,had free rain of the place and sleep curled up round my bloody head like a scarf BUT it took me over a year to get it to swim, it would be ok in the bath or a pond or stream as long as its feet were on the floor..if it started bobbing about then it would go mental screaming and going nuts!

 

it had a unhealthy obession with ducks too...its no 1 food... if given a full one it would eat the parsons nose and chew the beak off it but that said we had a lot of otter attack on ducks and that was the aftermath so maybe its their favorite bits?

 

also worth noteing it was very clever and could work stuff out..like how to get out the windows and doors...and how to turn the taps on and was biddable, it would follow and come to the "squeek" right away...chuntering like a ferret dose, and it would "whistle" if it wanted me like if it lost sight of me..but was laso prone to moments of random violence...i was bitten a few times...and it REALY hurt

[Mole man Kent 26]

Real interesting when I hear stories like this, my friend who I shoot with knew of a gamekeeper in surrey who tamed a fox cub after shooting the vixen and apparently it was the best retriever on the shoot

[Nick3439 83]

When I was a kid I always wanted to tame a fox cub...