CLEVELAND — A family of river otters was spotted in Cleveland Metroparks for the first time in the district’s history, Cleveland Metroparks announced Monday. 

The return of otters to the area comes nearly 52 years after the infamous fire in the Cuyahoga River. Cleveland Metroparks hailed the return of otters to the area as an indication of an “ecological comeback.”

“It is not just one otter passing through Cleveland Metroparks; it is a family group of otters,” said Jonathon Cepek, Cleveland Metroparks wildlife ecologist. “They are not just passing through. They are using Cleveland Metroparks to live.”

Cleveland Metroparks has been around since 1917. Cepek said that otters expirated from Ohio before 1900, but as conditions have improved, otters started to expand their population in the Buckeye State.

“That species has been gone from Ohio because people changed the landscape and overharvested and impact natural areas,” Cepek said. 

According to the Cleveland Natural History Museum, river otters left Ohio in the early 1900s due to poor water quality. In 1986, the Ohio Division of Wildlife introduced 123 otters from Louisiana and Arkansas into four waterways in Ohio. By 2012, the otter population grew to more than 8,000 within the state. 

“When we look at this great park system around an urban metropolitan area of Cleveland and we think about the mix of greenspace and recreation we’ve got and all the great work all the great work Cleveland Metroparks does and the improvement of the river, the Cuyahoga watershed, and we have this species that was gone from the state of Ohio that now not only is living in Cuyahoga watershed, but within the boundaries of Cleveland Metroparks,” Cepek added. “The burning river, the pollution. Think about that comeback of that species.”