WILDLIFE experts with high hopes of otters resettling in the Forest have been dismayed by the discovery of a dead animal on the main Gloucester-Monmouth road near Brierley.
The otter was spotted by taxi driver Richard Dobbs of Clearwell, who reported his find to naturalists at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust in Robinswood Hill, Gloucester.
"I saw the animal dead in the middle of the road and thought it must be someone's cat," Mr Dobbs told the Review.
"I got out and went to it in case it was still alive – it was right in the middle of the road, on the white line, and I had only been that way 10 minutes earlier and hadn't seen it so it must just have been hit.
"When I found it was dead, though, I put it to the side of the road. I was sure it was an otter, but I've only seen them years ago when I used to live in Ross on Wye."
The wildlife service sent out rangers to collect the animal and later confirmed that it was an otter.
Sarah Killingback, who until recently has been working as a deputy conservation officer in the Forest, said: "We believe it is an animal which has come up into the Forest from the River Wye rather than one that has come from the Severn.
"We collect dead animals so that we can send them away for an autopsy, though it is obvious this one was killed by a car or truck. Obviously it is quite an upsetting find.
"I have just been in tough with the head forester who says he will be examining the culverts in the area to see if any are blocked, which would have made the otter risk crossing the road.
"This reinforces a call made by the Trust a few weeks ago, when we first saw signs of otters reappearing in Forest streams, for members of the public to report blocked drains and culverts under roads."
Recent reports of otters in watercourses near Soudley are believed to refer to animals from the River Severn, where several have been sighted in recent times on both banks.