Sorry, what?
Most of this week’s headlines were taken up by a coypu. It was said to be “huge” and “dangerous” and had yellow teeth, and we were to stay away from it at all costs.
The papers talked about, the radio talked about it and we, indeed, talked about it.
However, it turns out that it wasn’t a coypu after all – it was just your regular canal otter.
Waterways Ireland has released a further statement, saying that it has been a case of mistaken identity and we can all just go back to living our normal lives, coypu-free.
The statement read:
“Earlier this week Waterways Ireland received notification of an unconfirmed report from the National Biodiversity Data Centre via National Parks and Wildlife Services of a coypu on the Royal Canal.
“We are obliged to take this seriously, given the potential implications posed by a coypu presence on Irish waterways. All evidence now leads us to believe that this was a case of mistaken identity and the report was likely that of native otter, which are present on the Royal Canal.”
Panic over, lads.
