Hi Anna, I understand about the electric fence. You don't want to discourage all the wildlife that comes to your pond. How about encouraging all your neighbors to get ponds too, so that the otters can take turns at the various ponds!? Your pond sounds great. Do you have any pictures you could share? I have no idea how aggressive or shy otters are. Have you ever seen those motion-detector scarecrows that shoot water out when they sense motion? They probaby would scare away other creatures too though. Well, maybe this "attack" was a one-time occurence. That would be nice. Would the otters come from just one direction? Is there a way of putting up some sort of trip-wire that would activate an alarm in your house, so you could at least try to scare them off, if they showed up again? Are they mostly active in the day or night? Surely there are other people around with ponds who have the same problem, who might be able to give you suggestions? At least its not alligators!

Neat!! I really need to get down to the lake more often to try to see the birds I wouldn't normally see.

Isn't it amazing how that much neck can just disappear.

Probably a little blue heron. In real life they look very dark all over, not the reddish purple in the field guides.