‘A huge surprise’ as giant river otter feared extinct in Argentina pops up

Conservationists thrilled at the sighting of the wild predator, last seen in the country in the 1980s

It was a huge surprise," said Sebastian Di Martino, director of conservation at Fundacion Rewilding Argentina. I was incredulous. An incredible feeling of so much happiness. I didn't know if I should try to follow it or rush back to our station to tell the others."

The cause of the excitement was the sighting, last week, of a wild giant river otter - an animal feared extinct in the country due to habitat loss and hunting - on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable national park, in north-east Argentina's Chaco province. The last sighting of a giant otter in the wild in Argentina was in the 1980s. On the Bermejo, none have been seen for more than a century.