SIGNS aimed at keeping the Lymington River's otters alive have gone up on the edge of the town.

The signs, the first of their kind in mainland Britain, have been put up by the Environment Agency as part of a joint initiative with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

They have been put up at a point on Bridge Road, Lymington, where otters have been seen in recent years - even though a special pass was put under the road for during recent flood prevention works.

Graham Roberts, the wildlife trust's South-East otters and rivers project officer, said: "You can't tell otters where to walk and we did lose one on this causeway some years ago.

"Members of the public have also informed us that they have seen otters running across the road late at night."

Mr Roberts pointed out that between 200 and 300 otters are run over on the UK's roads every year.

Environment Agency conservation officer Joe Stevens agreed that road deaths were the "major brake" on the natural recovery of the otters, which have found their own way back to the Lymington.

He said they had also established a colony on the River Itchen and are present on the Hampshire Avon

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.