When I went to check the two trail cameras in the culvert one of them was missing. Then I spotted it on the bottom of the stream about 1m downstream.
I guessed at once who the culprit was. Although the cameras were fairly tightly clamped to the end of the pipe my guess was that one of the otters had knocked it into the water. Amazingly it was still working when I pulled it out and it had recorded the whole episode. You'll see that the pup continued to investigate the camera underwater before deciding it wasn't edible. Here is what happened.
And the camera even recorded its own rescue.
The camera had been in the water for 23 hours yet it worked immediately when I switched it to replay. I think it must have been saved by the weight of the clamp, which kept it upright, stopping water getting in through the battery compartment and stopping it from floating away. It is also a good thing that it had a white rain guard otherwise I might not have spotted it. I brought it home for a clean up and I'll try to devise a firmer anchor so this doesn't happen again.
That's hilarious, particularly the rather grumpy Chris having found the vandalised camera!
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