After not being seen for more than 30 years, the Japanese river otter ( Lutra lutra whiteleyi ) has been declared extinct by the country’s Ministry of the Environment, which also last week declared several other species extinct.

Once numbering in the millions, Japanese river otters a subspecies of the European or Eurasian otter ( L. lutra ) were overhunted for their fur, most of which was sold to foreign traders, and further suffered when their habitats became developed and polluted. The animals grew to about a meter in length and subsisted mainly on fish and shrimp.