Rare Otter 'Disappeared' In Kyrgyzstan, Experts Warn
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
The threatened Eurasian otter appears to have disappeared in Kyrgyzstan, officials and scientists warned on Friday, following a long decline in its numbers linked to human activity.
The playful carnivorous mammal was already rare in the land-locked Central Asian country, but is now no longer visible in its one known habitat there, a ministry spokesman said.
The Eurasian otter "in Kyrgyzstan is either on the verge of disappearance or has already disappeared", the spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz natural resources ministry told AFP.
The Ilbirs Foundation, which seeks to protect the mammal, on Friday released a report saying "the otter has disappeared" from its sole known habitat, "putting in question the species' existence in Kyrgyzstan".
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