A 10-year-old girl stumbled across one of the world’s rarest amphibians while playing in a Welsh lake.
Evie Hill was exploring under a bridge near the River Ogmore in Bridgend, south Wales, when she spotted a Mexican axolotl – the first ever documented in the wild in Britain.
There are just 1,000 of the endangered amphibians left in the wild, and Evie’s find is believed to have been released from captivity by its owner.
Speaking to the BBC about finding the nine-inch-long animal, Evie said: “I went down to the bank and there was this green mat, I lifted it up and there was an axolotl there.”
Her mother Melanie said she was sceptical when Evie first told her she had found the amphibian. “I thought she’d seen a newt or something,” she said. “Evie’s always finding things like this — not axolotls — but newts and bugs.
“It was just a complete surprise to see that she was actually holding this axolotl. I never even knew that they could grow that big, and [now] here I am with one in my kitchen.”
The family cut their holiday short to take the axolotl back to their home in Leicester, and said they spent hours researching how to keep it safe.
Evie has now named the axolotl Dippy and said he has fascinated her classmates at school. “Everybody at school is fascinated about the story of Dippy,” she said. “I think it’s really interesting.”
Chris Newman, director of the National Centre for Reptile Welfare, said Evie had “probably saved the axolotl’s life”.
“This is the first time one has been documented in the UK, and it would not have lived very long if Evie hadn’t seen it,” he said. “Predatory animals would have had it for lunch, and it already had bite marks on its back.”
Axolotls are native only to the lake complex of Xochimilco near Mexico City, and can grow up to 12 inches long.
The RSPCA said it had seen a surge in searches to buy axolotls online after the amphibians were introduced into the game Minecraft in June 2021, jumping from around 11,000 per month to 50,000 per month.
Dr Ros Clubb, from the charity, previously warned they are not easy to look after and should never be “impulse bought” as pets.
“We're particularly concerned when new pet trends such as axolotls emerge as exotic pets often end up in our care later down the line when people realise they're not easy to care for, or once the novelty wears off,” she said.
“Playing with an axolotl in Minecraft is one thing, but taking on the care of a real live axolotl is a whole different matter. These amphibians need care and attention for their entire lives, which can be 15 years - long after the kids may have flown the nest."
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