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From WBEZ.

Hey, I'm Mark Filipino.

David Jakubiak and his six-year-old daughter, Anya, love otters.

You know the cute, furry little aquatic mammals with those big whiskers. David and Anya live

near the Brookfield Zoo in the south suburbs of Chicago. So they make frequent visits to see the otters.

One of the reasons that Anya really loves otters is that she says just like her, everybody thinks

that they're cute and adorable, but in reality,

they're ferocious.

Well, that's only if you get too close to them, the otters, that is.

Sometimes, David and Anya go for nature walks in search of otters at the nearby Salt Creek Trail.

One time, when was this, right when it first got warm?

Yeah, I think in the spring.

Okay, and we were walking and the path, was, was it really dry?

A little muddy.

And as we were walking, we looked down into the mud and we saw a footprint.

But we never did see the otter.

But it is possible they did see an otter track.

Otters live in that area and in other waterways throughout Illinois.

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