Don Howdyshell thought he'd just about seen it all.
He's kayaked the Cuyahoga River hundreds of time.
And he's walked its trails countless more times.
But what he encountered Saturday while walking his dog in downtown Cuyahoga Falls stopped even him in his tracks.
Well, actually it was Molly— his 10-year-oldBelgian Malinois— that stopped in her tracks first.
They were walking on the overlook by the Sheraton Suites when Molly spied something in the river.
Molly froze and fixed her eyes at something in the river.
Howdyshell said he couldn't believe what he was seeing, either.
A river otter was scurrying about the rocky ledgesby the falls.
River otters show up in downtown Cuyahoga Falls for first time in long time
River otters are native to Ohio but seeing one in downtown Cuyahoga Falls is a bit like saying you've spotted Bigfoot.
Howdyshell said he was able to take video of the river otter to prove he and Molly weren't hallucinating.
He posted the video to his Cuyahoga Falls River Fest Facebook account— a page dedicated to a kayaking event he organizes every April— and it generated a lot of chatter and shares as this is believed to be the first documented river otter sightingin downtown Cuyahoga Falls in memory.
Howdyshell's seen a lot of other wildlife along the river on his walks and kayaking trips— from mink to bald eagles — but a river otter was a first.
"It was definitely cool to see," he said. "Think about it. You have a hotel on one side and the highway on the other side and otter just living it up right there in the middle on the river."
Choice of city life for otters is a bit surprising
Mike Johnson, Summit Metro Park's chief of conservation, said the notion of a river otter calling the region home is not surprising.
What is surprising is that this particular otterand his buddies decided to become urban dwellers.
While this part of the river is pretty isolated given its terrain, Johnson said, it is located by some pretty busy roadways and all the associated noise that comes with that.
That being said, this stretch of river in downtown Cuyahoga Falls comes with the varying depths of water that otters and the fish they eat love.
And wherethere's one otter, he said, there are likely more.
The park district has historical accounts dating backto the 1940s of river otters inhabiting the Gorge Metro Park just upstream.
But like a lot of things— including fish— neglect and pollution in the Cuyahoga River drove wildlife away.
The river's rebirth has changed all that, so things like river otters are becoming more common in the region.
Johnson said river otters in Summit County are about as common as coyotes calling this area home too.
But like coyotes, otters prefer to live in the shadows and avoid interactions with people.
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"They are more common than you think," Johnson said. "They are very secretive and they like to hide from you."
You just might see more river otters around Northeast Ohio
The park district believes it has resident river otters living in its Cascade Metro Park in Akron and Liberty Park in Twinsburg.
As the lines blur between the rural and urban environments, Johnson said, the sightings of river otters will become less rare.
"They are getting more accustomed to people," he said. "They still don't like having people around."
Johnson suggests visiting the pedestrian bridge by the Sheraton in the Falls or walking the Overlook Trail in the Cascade Metro Park in Akron for the best, albeit rare,chance to see a river otter in the wild.
The best chance to see one up close is at the Akron Zoo, where Molly and Stratton frolic in a habitat there.
The return of a river otter to downtown Cuyahoga Falls is a success story, Johnson said, indicating that all the years of hard work to clean up the river and restore and protect its habitat arepaying off.
"This is a sign that the river is healthy," he said. "This is sign that things are coming back. There was a time when the Cuyahoga River didn't even have any fish in it. And without fish you wouldn't have any river otters."
Craig Webb, who still misses the talentedotter thatwould carry out aPepsi can during the sea lionshow at Sea World in Aurora, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.
