Photo/Illutration A mother and her pup swim off Cape Tofutsu, eastern Hokkaido, on July 29. (Morikazu Kogen)

HAMANAKA, Hokkaido--Sea otters have pupped off Cape Tofutsu here in eastern Hokkaido.

Four pairs of mothers and pups have been spotted since the beginning of July, in a community of up to 14 otters.

For otter advocates, it is a sign that the coast of Hamanaka town may have become an established breeding ground. But they caution that risks remain.

“Many pups die during the roughly six-month-long rearing period,” said Yoshihiro Kataoka, who heads Etopirika Foundation, a local nonprofit organization.

Kataoka said he hopes onlookers will observe but not interfere.

The otters have been seen cuddling, snoozing and grooming each other’s fur.

They are visible from a promenade at the cape, also known as Kiritappu.

The otters were first known to have bred in the spring of 2018, after about a year of observation by the Etopirika Foundation.

Until recently, only two mothers were known to have raised pups. But in June this year, a third female otter was confirmed to have pupped. And a fourth was confirmed in early July.

In eastern Hokkaido, sea otters have been observed breeding around Moyururi island in Nemuro city since the 2010s. They were sighted at Cape Shirepa in Kushiro town this year and last.

This suggests that their distribution may be expanding from the Northern Territories, islands off the eastern coast of Hokkaido seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II but claimed by Tokyo. 

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