Something Rare Returns To New York River After 100 Years

A wild river otter has been spotted in a river in New York for the first time in more than a hundred years.

The Wildlife Conservation Society caught it on camera late at night earlier this summer.

Otter Spotted In Bronx River For First Time Since Early 1900s

a wet otter sitting on top of a rock

The Wildlife Conservation Society, based out of the Bronx Zoo, confirmed the sighting after a motion-activated camera caught the otter late at night back in late June.

This is the first confirmed sighting there since the early 1900s.

Researcher RJ Hawkins with the zoo's Education Department is credited with the discovery. Experts believe it's a lone juvenile otter exploring on its own, looking for new territory.

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River otters used to live throughout New York's waterways, but trapping and heavy pollution wiped them out of the Bronx River section over a century ago.

Considered An Indicator Species

Wildlife Conservation Society Education

Scientists consider otters an "indicator species." That means their presence is basically a report card for the health of a freshwater ecosystem. Otters need clean water and a strong fish population to survive, so finding one means the river is doing something right.

The Bronx River Alliance and volunteers have spent decades pulling old tires, industrial waste, and garbage out of the river. It's the only freshwater river in New York City.

a sea otter swimming in a body of water

Officials say this proves decades of cleanup work by the Bronx River Alliance may finally be paying off. Otters vanished from the river generations ago because of trapping and pollution, and scientists use them as a sign of how healthy a river actually is.

This otter sighting also follows the return of North American beavers to the same river system in recent years.