67 general, they’re considered a ‘sentinel’ species that humans can look at to determine environmental health.”8 Otters, while playful and loved by many, tend to be quite shy around many humans and generally avoid more urbanized spaces. This could mean many different things; perhaps they have just gradually evolved over the roughly 30 years of reintroduction to better adapt to human presence, or perhaps they were driven out of other areas for whatever reason. Whatever the case(s) may be, the mere fact that they are in these rivers at all is quite an astounding observation that can abolish preconceived notions that these rivers were permanently uninhabitable from problems like eutrophication from algae. The same can likely also be true for the Fox River.9 The Fox River, while likely much less polluted than other rivers around Illinois, prominently Chicagoland rivers, is still relevant to a lot of citizens' daily lives, and understanding how the recently reintroduced River Otter plays a role in the environmental health of the river can help bring a better understanding towards how to better protect, maintain, and observe the river itself. In the past, Midwestern River Otters were hunted for their pelts during the numerous fur trades that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries, to the point that for almost 80 years they were considered an endangered species. However, efforts from the widespread environmental movements across the country led to more people beginning to recognize these mammals and their habitats as something worth protecting, which in turn led to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources approving a plan, one in which the introduction of 346 River Otters from 1994 to 1997 quickly drew to an expected almost 4,500 in 2005, officially leading the population to be put off the endangered species list. Finally, modern River Otters have even been seen in more urbanized locations, an interesting find considering their rather reclusive and shy natures towards humans, and this discovery is no different for other rivers found across Illinois, such as the Fox River. Considering this whole 8 Ibid. 9 Gloria Casas, “Removing Dams on the Fox River Will Increase Number of Fish Species,” Chicago Tribune, May 10, 2019, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/ct-ecn-fox-river-st-0302-20150228-7-story.html.
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