A HAMPSHIRE couple is warning fellow fish pond owners after nearly all of their long-lived pet koi were killed in a suspected otter attack.

On Saturday, October 22 Diane and Richard Paxman found three of their five large carp, all almost 40 years old, dead, partly eaten and scattered around their pond.

With another missing completely, the only fish left at their home in Dodds Lane, in Swanmore, has tail and fin injuries, leaving the couple unsure if it will survive.

At first, Mr and Mrs Paxman thought the attack might have been by a heron but after researching online an otter seemed the more likely culprit.

Diane, 64, said: “Herons usually swallow fish whole, but the remains of ours were scattered around and only partly eaten. It was carnage.

“It was horrible, we’re all really upset. The fish have been here the 15 years we’ve been living here and 20 years before that. We never thought they would be victims of an otter attack."

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All five fish were quite small when the original owner built the pond, nearly 40 years ago, but had grown to be “huge” according to Diane.

She continued: “We are upset to have lost them in such a brutal way. The attack was so wanton. Only one fish, Goldie, was properly eaten. The others had just been pecked and left to die.

Hampshire Chronicle:

“We’ve had herons in the garden in the past but part of the pond is very deep so we always thought they had a safe refuge. We weren’t aware of the rising threat of otters or mink. I wish we had known of the danger. They had no chance against a water-borne predator.

“Obviously it's good news otters are making a resurgence, having been extinct in Hampshire until recently – there are apparently mating pairs on the River Meon. But it’s something pond owners, like us, need to take into consideration. I wasn’t aware otters would be out on the hunt in Swanmore, otherwise we would have taken precautions.

“I know to some people they were ‘just’ fish and became part of the natural food chain. But they gave us and our family a lot of pleasure, swimming around together. When we stamped on the wooden bridge over the pond, they would swim up to meet us. We could feed them by hand and they would suck our fingers.”

The family, on Dodds Lane, won’t be getting any more fish until they can ensure their pond is otter and mink proof. Living in a very residential area, the couple has no idea where otters might have come from with the nearest body of water being ‘The Lakes’.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has been contacted for comment.

A similar incident happened in Romsey in 2019, when Sally Grahamsley, of Jermyns Lane, found 15 of her fish had been killed and presumed to have been eaten by otters.

SEE ALSO: Romsey woman left devastated after pond of fish worth £8,000 were gobbled up by "otters"