The development of a steroid extraction method for gonadal tissue is in progress. Extraction of male otter gonadal tissue will begin in January of 2001. Scat samples are still being collected from the region for the biomarker portion of the study. A few more scat collections are needed for the middle portion of the Willamette River where river otters were collected. Trappers in the Puget Sound are in the process of collecting scat samples where otters were collected.
Data analyses are in progress for report writing.
Two otters were live trapped under the Fremont Bridge in downtown Portland, Oregon. The fifth otter was live trapped at Woahink Lake, near Florence, Oregon. The otters were necropsied and samples collected. Teeth from these otters and the otters trapped in 1987-88 were sent to the Matson Laboratory, Milltown, Montana. Age data was received in December and was entered into the data base.