LONDON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- British wildlife advocates say river otters have returned to every county in England, signaling a victory in the efforts to save the animals from extinction.
Two otters have been recently observed in Kent, the only county where no otters had been found in a survey of rivers across England carried out by the Environment Agency last year, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Otters had almost disappeared from England by the 1970s -- victims of toxic pesticides that threatened their health and reduced supplies of fish, their primary food.
Legal protections, along with improvements in water quality, have been credited with their recovery.
"Rivers in England are the healthiest for over 20 years and otters, salmon and other wildlife are returning to many rivers for the first time since the Industrial Revolution," Alastair Driver of the Environment Agency said. "The fact that otters are now returning to Kent is the final piece in the jigsaw for otter recovery in England."
