Otter News Archive

Riverfront park statue is back where he ‘otter’ be

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8th April 2010

Theresa Novak

Gazette-Times, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

A bronze statue of a river otter was re-installed in Monroe Plaza on Wednesday with a more secure mounting and a new name.

The lifelike upright river otter statue by Eugene artist Peter Helzer has appeared to keep an alert watch over its reclining companion in Riverfront Commemorative Park since 2002. It was reported missing by Corvallis Parks and Recreation personnel on March 22. After a front-page article ran March 25, parks employees discovered the little statue the morning of March 26, wrapped in a plastic bag, on the front porch of their office in Avery Park. Attached was a note that said “His name is Samson; take care of him.”

They have.

With longer and sturdier bolts and better attachment, the statue is back on its rock — to the delight of riverfront visitors who stopped by Wednesday afternoon to chat with Matt McGuire, the parks employee who was replacing “Samson.”

“It’s sooo good to see the otter back,” said Kris Egan, as she tried to keep her four-month-old standard poodle/lab mix, Quinault, calm on his leash. “He barked at it, but then he sniffed, and he realized it wasn’t real.”

Egan loves the public art in Corvallis, and she has a more-than-casual attachment to it. Her husband, Brian Egan, helped to install the life-sized bronze statue of the dog, Cassie, at the corner of Madison Avenue and Second Street.

No one has been charged in connection with the otter’s removal, but the request from the person who returned him now will be honored; parks employees all are referring to the otter as Samson.

As for the appreciation by the public: It’s evident on the noses of both otters, which are worn smooth from where children pet them.