THE carcass of a large dog otter found on the outskirts of Skipton on Tuesday evening (See News, yesterday) has been collected by Environment Agency officials and sent off for a post-mortem examination at Cardiff University.

The discovery of the otter, one of the rarest creatures in Britain after being hunted almost to extinction early last century, has caused a major stir because only a handful have been seen in the Aire in the past 50 years and the discovery of the body suggests they are making a comeback.

Daelnet columnist John Sheard contacted the Environment Agency after being tipped off by Dales countryman Carl Parkinson, a fields sports specialist who runs a rough shoot at Appletreewick.

The carcass was found on land owned by his family by the side of Eller Beck, which runs through the centre of Skipton into the Aire. When he took the call, Carl assumed it would be a mink - which are common on the Aire - but was "astonished" to confirm it was a large dog otter when he inspected the remains.

John Sheard rang the agency Yorkshire officer in Leeds and biodiversity officer Ellie Andison drove to pick up the carcass within hours. She then sent it to Cardiff University, which has a contract with the agency to diagnose the cause of deaths of any otters found.

Ms Andison has been tracking otter sightings in Yorkshire for 15 years - and has never seen one in the wild!

• The dead body that means new life. Read John Sheard on the great otter revival in our week in the country feature, Friday.