Our Pacific Northwest: Sutro Sam

Our Pacific Northwest

A resident of San Francisco has returned after over 50 years of absence. The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that naturalists have found a river otter who has made a home of the Sutro baths near the Golden Gate Bridge. Sutro Sam, as local ecologists have fondly named him, is the first recorded river otter in the San Francisco Bay in decades. His species once thrived in the Bay Area until the rise of the fur trade drove the river otters to the brink of extinction in the 19th and early 20th century. Local naturalists told the Chronicle they believe the little fella likely swam down from Marin County, where the increase in river otter population has prompted local residents in Larkspur to post an “Otter Crossing” sign. Although it is believed Sutro Sam is the only otter in the immediate area making refuge of the baths, it is the hope of many ecologists in the city and throughout the region to see a return of this iconic creature of the Pacific Northwest.