River Otter Returns to the Bronx River After a Century

A motion-activated camera captured a North American river otter in the Bronx River on June 23, 2026 — the first documented sighting there since the early 1900s. The Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo announced the finding August 19. Otters disappeared amid pollution, habitat loss, and fur trapping. Beavers returned to the same river in 2007 after a 200-year absence.