ROGER SIDLER In 1953, the director of Basel Zoo, Heini Hediger, wrote an essay addressed to the Federal Council. The renowned zoologist wanted to express his appreciation for the revised Hunting Act that had come into force. The legislation marked a turning point: otters, along with other species like the skylark and the golden eagle, had finally been removed from the list of huntable animals and were now regarded as protected. It was a very late reprieve for the otter – the animal was almost extinct in Switzerland by that time. Extinction was the goal Hediger thought the original legislation, dating back to 1888, had been a big mistake. “Everything must be done to facilitate the extirpation of otters, herons and other animals that threaten fishing,” read Article 22. Bonus payments would also be made for culling them, it said. The canton of St Gallen would pay 20 Swiss francs, Berne 15 francs and Vaud 40 francs per kill. The rewards were sizeable in the end, with cantonal and local fishing associations often paying an additional bounty on top. Hunters would have shown little interest in slaughtering otters otherwise, preferring stags, roe, and wild boar for their meat. A baby otter Records show that 100 to 150 otters were shot each year in the 1890s, but the annual kill rate dropped to under ten during the Second World War. The last bounty payments were made in 1932. With no animals to kill, there was no sense in dangling any more financial carrots. Otters had completely disappeared by the middle of the 20th century. Heini Hediger’s efforts to protect local wildlife were inspired by the sad story of one otter. Hediger had been the director of Dählhölzli Zoo in Berne from 1938 to 1944, and it was there that he had grown fond of Peterli, the resident otter. Peterli had caused quite a stir one summer – much to Hediger’s delight. The director could not think of a better advertisement for the zoo. But how did Peterli end up at Dählhölzli in the first place? Head warden Werner Schindelholz relates that he stumbled across a blind baby otter while scouting the River Aare in June 1938. The animal could barely have been more than a few days old. Young otters normally open their eyes after about 30 days and only leave their burrow after ten weeks. It is, therefore, extremely unlikely that Schindelholz, an experienced hunter, came across this baby Applauded, then poisoned – Peterli, the crowd-pleasing otter that met an unfortunate end The story of Peterli the otter is a metaphor for Swiss attitudes to wildlife. Otters were regarded as pests in Switzerland until the middle of the 20th century. Peterli, the darling of Dählhölzli Zoo, became too popular for his own good – and paid for it with his life. simply on the river path. He probably located it in its den instead. Schindelholz had always dreamed of making such a discovery, and so decided to take the little otter – weighing 220 grams and barely 20 centimetres long – home with him. He proceeded to bring the creature up himself, naming it Peterli. In autumn 1938, rumours spread around Berne of a man who would walk around town with an otter in tow, the animal obeying its master in the manner of a little dog. Schindelholz even took Peterli with him on the bus. This story has been corroborated. The otter once sat on Federal Councillor Giuseppe Motta’s lap, Hediger claimed in his memoirs. But no one can confirm this. Schindelholz handed the otter over to Dählhölzli at the beginning of 1939. Peterli became an instant hit at the zoo, where he was the entertainer. Every afternoon, the otter would scurry over to the water fountain outside the public restaurant, where a crowd of people were waiting for him. Peterli would corkscrew through the water, juggle a ball, catch fish thrown in the air and retrieve objects. Schindelholz would then carry him over to his rudimentary stone-wall enclosure consisting of a pool and a rocky bank. The fence was pointless The zoo soon discovered that hosting a celebrity otter had its drawbacks. There was nothing physically protecting Peterli in his pool from the whims of the general public. Visitors would tease the otter with their handkerchiefs, hats, umbrellas and walking sticks. Or throw toys at him – Peterli in the arms of a young boy at the zoo – photographed by Heini Hediger. The otter had not yet grown to full size. Photo: Heini Hediger, 1938/1939 Swiss Review / December 2025 / No.5 20 Nature and the environment
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