A friend told me that someone in their small village had spotted a Northern River Otter (Lontra canadensis) in the same river the passes through the city where I live. This is the closest sighting of a River Otter to my neck of the woods I have ever heard of. I was so excited that I ran to my  desk where I had all of my mammal books out anyways, and flipped to the River Otter entries and started learning.
I ended up recording some of the important things in a couple of the entries, but then got to thinking about where the word Otter comes from, and from there ended up re-reading a portion of one of my favorite stories of all time, which happens to feature an Otter character.
This show is tribute to all animals who are experiencing range expansions, moving back into their historic territories and holding it down for the future. As I mentioned to the person who observed the Otter in an email, “[a]midst all the rough news of the year, this is some good news to hear.”