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After not being seen for more than 30 years, the Japanese river otter (Lutra lutra whiteleyi) has been declared extinct by the country’s Ministry of the Environment, which also last week declared several other species extinct.
Once numbering in the millions, Japanese river otters—a subspecies of the European or Eurasian otter (L. lutra)—were overhunted for their fur, most of which was sold to foreign traders, and further suffered when their habitats became developed and polluted. The animals grew to about a meter in length and subsisted mainly on fish and shrimp.
The river otter was last officially observed in the wild in a river in the city of Susaki in Japan’s Kochi Prefecture in 1979, when a single animal was photographed. The otter remains the official animal symbol of Japan’s Ehime Prefecture, home of the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), who equated himself with otters in his haiku and referred to himself as Dassai Sho-oku Shujin (“Otter Bookstore Owner”). The anniversary of Shiki’s death is celebrated every September 19 as Dassai-ki (“Otter’s ceremony anniversary”)
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