AN OTTER is devastating a South Lakeland woman’s garden after killing wildlife in her pond.

Linda Tiffany, of Howgill Close, Burneside, woke up to find headless fish and half-eaten frogs strewn across her back garden.

After initially suspecting a mink was causing the damage, she left the security light on one evening last week.

When it was activated, she went to her bedroom window and saw a ‘three foot long, brown creature with a dirty white belly’.

She later discovered a hole in the wire fence surrounding the garden, which she believes the otter has bitten through.

“We’re just at a loss what to do,” she said.

“In a way we’re victims of our own success because we have always tried to grow a wild garden.

“The garden is trashed. Obviously the pond has been too accessible for this creature and it’s horrible to see animals with their heads ripped off, especially when you consider that they had not even been eaten.

“We had some problems with herons before but it has never been as bad as this.”

Mrs Tiffany added that of the 30 animals in her back garden, including coy carp, around 20 had been eaten in the last week.

She has bought a vat and filtration system for the remaining 10 fish to live in so that if the otter comes back to the pond and finds nothing, it will think there is no food there and move to a different area.

On the advice of a friend, she tried pouring urine around the garden in the hope that the predator would be put off by the smell, but that proved un-successful.

Publicity and Publications Officer for Cumbria Wildlife Trust Alan Wright said: “It is a difficult problem because the majority of people would be delighted to see an otter in their garden, but if you have paid a lot of money for carp it can be a problem.

“Otters are persistent creatures so there is not a lot you can do without ruining how your garden looks.”

The Environment Agency has a 35-page guide on otters and stillwater fisheries. Its advice includes building a wall around the garden so that otters cannot climb in.

To access it call EA’s customer service line on 03708 506506.

“I am in two minds about this,” said Angela Julian, supporters scheme manager of the charity Pond Con-servation.

“It is so nice to see our otters back from the brink of extinction.

“However, equally I can see that it is very annoying to have repeated nightly visits from marauding otters to your pond.”

She suggested people facing problems could go to www.wildlifefencing.co.uk for more advice.

Otters are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, make it an offence to capture or kill an otter, or to disturb an otter’s shelter (holt) in any way.