otters

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- It was nearly 60 years ago on the Gila River. That's the last time anyone had documented a river otter in New Mexico. A government trapper found the dead animal in a beaver trap he had set.

Now, the chance of otters making any kind of a comeback in the upper reaches of the Gila is being put on hold indefinitely by New Mexico wildlife officials, a move that is frustrating conservationists and others who see the sleek mammals as the best hope for preserving endangered fish in the troubled river.