The italian action plan for the endangered eurasian otter Lutra lutra

Although recent evidence of the species recovery has been reported for many European countries, in Italy the Eurasian otter Lutra lutra is still considered endan- gered. Otter populations are confined to few river basins in the southern part of the peninsu- la and these are both geographically and genetically isolated from other European popula- tions. This critical situation led the Italian Ministry of Environment to promote the produc- tion of an Action Plan for the otter in Italy, whose methods, aims and actions are briefly summarized.