A 10-year-old girl has made an extraordinary discovery in a Welsh river, finding a critically endangered Mexican axolotl – believed to be the first ever documented in the wild in the UK. Evie Hill was playing by the River Ogmore in Bridgend on 10 April when she lifted a discarded mat and spotted the nine-inch pale salamander nestled among the rocks.
Her mother, Melanie Hill, initially dismissed the find, thinking it was a newt or a snake. However, after retrieving the creature and storing it in a gravy boat, the family confirmed it was indeed an axolotl. They later purchased a suitable container and sought advice from a local breeder, as the amphibian had damage to its tail and stomach.
Axolotls are native only to Lake Xochimilco near Mexico City and are critically endangered, with an estimated 50 to 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild. Their popularity as pets has surged recently, partly due to their appearance in video games like Minecraft and Roblox.
The family cut their holiday short to bring the axolotl, named Dippy D by Evie, back to their home in Leicester. It now resides in a tank, and plans are in place to transfer it to a larger setup. Melanie said her daughter was delighted and had spent hours researching how to care for the creature, which is recovering well due to its ability to regrow tissue.
Evie, a Year 5 pupil, told how she caught the axolotl with her bare hands to prove her find to her mother. She recognised it immediately by its gills, having seen them on YouTube videos. 'I ran up to my mum shouting, "I've found an axolotl", but she did not believe me at all,' she said.
