INDIANAPOLIS (AP): Indiana has tentatively approved a limited trapping season for river otters, which have flourished since the furry animals were reintroduced to the state during the 1990s.

Indiana's Natural Resources Commission approved rules Tuesday that allow a river otter trapping season. It would start this fall in 66 counties where the aquatic mammals are established.

Indiana's attorney general and governor's office still must sign off on the rules.

The Department of Natural Resources began releasing otters back into the state in 1995. The species had vanished from Indiana by 1942 due to unregulated trapping and habitat loss.

The new rules would allow licensed trappers to take no more than two otters per season with a statewide quota of 600 otters. The trapping season would run from Nov. 15 to March 15.