Otter relief: Sagamihara’s goodwill ambassador found safe in Hachioji

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:14 JST, November 3, 2022

An escaped otter that serves as a goodwill ambassador for Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture has been found in neighboring Hachioji, Tokyo.

The owner had reported the disappearance to the police.

Aty, a 3-year-old male small-clawed otter, escaped on Sunday and was spotted the following day in a river by a worker repairing a bridge in Hachioji, according to the police and other authorities.

The worker tried to catch Aty, but the intrepid otter managed to flee to a nearby warehouse. The otter was caught about three hours later by police officers who had been dispatched to the scene.

Aty, who stars in videos on a popular YouTube channel that has more than 780,000 subscribers, has been Sagamihara’s goodwill ambassador since March 2021.