Sometimes you sing happy birthday to the wrong classmate. Sometimes the academy award goes to the lesser talent. Sometimes you thank the lady of the house for cooking the roast and the husband really did it all. It happens. We all make the occasional ‘acclaim’ error. Take this article for instance.

At park beaver pond, otters gorge on brook trout

Irene Greenberg had been roving around looking for something to photograph the Sunday before last when she came upon a brook trout bloodbath that’s the subject of Jackson Hole wildlife-watching legend.

It was a romp of otters that were responsible for the killing, which netted the mustelid family full guts of spawning fish. Greenberg, a semiprofessional wildlife photographer who’s got a soft spot for otters, was entranced and, for a while, watched on her own at a location she prefers not to reveal.

Hear that? A bunch of otters catch dinner at a BEAVER POND. And it’s ooh lets take photos of the atrocities! And be sure to canonize with our Cannon the 5 hungry culprits. Because they’re otters. And everything they do is adorable.

Even their murderous “gang” is called a “romp”.

Never mind that they owe their entire successful meal to the beavers who created that pond, and repaired the dams, Who wants to photograph those old things?

The brook trout are clearly spawning, with their ruddy undersides and yellow and red spotting easily visible in the shallow beaver-engineered ponds where they’re congregated.

The otters are “damn smart,” Mayo said. They faithfully show up to take advantage of the usually wary fish, which become easy pickings come the spawn.

“More or less every time they go under, they come up with a fish,” Greenberg said. “Sometimes they’ll come up and just eat them in the water, and sometimes they’ll come up on land and eat.”

“They are voracious,” she said. “And they eat a lot.”

Yes they do. Hey did you happen to notice in your frame-snapping frenzy, WHERE they’re eating a lot? My goodness it appears to be a beaver pond where all those brook trout are gathered. Gosh I wonder WHY they meet up there? I mean is it some kind of salmonid singles club?

Or could it be that beaver-engineered ponds make ideal habitat for babies to grow up? What with all those tastey invertebrates. And nice deep pools that don’t freeze solid in the winter where trout can thrive? Hey maybe you should be writing an article about THAT or photographing that doncha think?

But otters are cute. And you know how they sled in snow. It’s adorable! And so slinky. Lets write about them. Again and again instead of the brawny backed-engineers these ponds are made by. Because cute is more important than engineering.

Didn’t you know?