Dead otter found in Northamptonshire to be sent to Cardiff for post-mortem

A dead otter found near a Northamptonshire village is to be sent to Cardiff to try and establish how it died.

The animal was found in the Stanwick area last week, as reported by the Northants Telegraph.

Northants Police’s Rural Crime Team said at the time that they don’t often get reports of dead otters, but that this was the fourth one that has been found in a short space of time.

While three were found on the A45 having been hit by vehicles, this one was found away from the road with no clear signs of how it has died.

And the rural crime team added: "This fourth one does raise concern and so to establish whether it has died of natural causes or a potential wildlife crime with the support of the Environmental Agency, we are sending him off for a post mortem examination.”

A spokesman for the Environment Agency has today (Wednesday) provided an update on the dead otter, telling this newspaper: “We have collected the dead otter and are storing it before it gets sent to Cardiff University for a post-mortem.

"We will continue to use our partnership with Cardiff University to improve our understanding of otter populations.

"If members of the public find dead otters we ask them to report it to our incident hotline number 0800 807060.”

Otters are designated and protected as European protected species (EPS), with EPS protected under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.