![\"Evie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2_EGR_240426_Axolotl_02JPGjpgEvi.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMelanie Hill said she could not believe what her daughter found while they were on holiday near the River Ogmore in Bridgend<\/p>\n
Evie found a Mexican axolotl under a bridge at the River Ogmore(Image: SWNS\/Melanie Hill)<\/p>\n
A 10-year-old girl was left stunned to find a critically endangered Mexican axolotl under a bridge while holidaying in Wales – the first discovery of its kind ever in the UK. Melanie Hill’s daughter Evie had been playing by the River Ogmore in Bridgend<\/a> when she made the incredible find on April 10.<\/p>\n The nature-loving youngster spotted the nine inch pale salamander, which was nestled in the rocks, after lifting up a discarded mat in the river and rushed to tell her excited mother.<\/p>\n Melanie, 50, said she didn’t believe her daughter for a minute when she said she had found an axolotl, believing it was more likely to be a newt or a snake.<\/p>\n But she was left gobsmacked to find the exotic amphibian in the water, which they retrieved and stored in a gravy boat before driving to the nearest Range store to buy a suitable container.<\/p>\n Experts say it is the first documented discovery of an axolotl in the wild in the UK with only 50 to 1,000 individuals left globally today. They are only found in Lake Xochimilco near Mexico City and are considered critically endangered in the wild.<\/p>\n Axolotls as pets have seen a surge in popularity in recent years after they were introduced to video games such as Minecraft and Roblox. Stay informed on Bridgend news by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a><\/p>\n After the incredible find, the family then cut their holiday short and their new pet – named Dippy D by Evie – now resides in a new tank back in their kitchen in Leicester.<\/p>\n The Mexican axolotl, now called Dippy D, in its tank(Image: Melanie Hill \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n Mum-of-eight Melanie, who works as a school<\/a> premises officer, said: “We had been travelling around Wales in our campervan and were trying to find a place to stop overnight on the way to Barry<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We found a place to pull over by what’s known as the Dipping Bridge and Evie loves nature so she went off paddling and playing down by the river. There was a piece of mat in the water which she lifted up and there she spotted it.<\/p>\n “She rather excitedly came running back up saying she’d seen an axolotl – and I quite simply told her, ‘no you haven’t’<\/p>\n “Evie watches them on Youtube so knows what they look like but of course I didn’t believe her for a moment. I thought she’s found a lizard, a newt or a snake perhaps.<\/p>\n “I’ve been telling Evie all this time that those creatures she watches on YouTube, they’re not real. But she was about to make me eat my words – because now I have one in my kitchen.<\/p>\n “So after she told us about her new discovery, we walked back down to the river. The water had gone cloudy where she had disturbed it – but then she spotted it again.<\/p>\n “Well, you can imagine my surprise, I really couldn’t believe it. We retrieved it from the water and placed it in my sister-in-law’s gravy boat.<\/p>\n “We drove to Bridgend and bought a more suitable container from The Range and it spent one night with us in the van.”<\/p>\n The incredible find was made in the River Ogmore(Image: Melanie Hill \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n The next day the family contacted a local breeder as the creature had damage to its tail and stomach.<\/p>\n After getting advice on how to care for it, the family cut their holiday short to take the axolotl back to their home.<\/p>\n Melanie added: “Evie is delighted with her new pet, they are such amazing creatures. It is recovering well, they have this ability to regrow and rebuild after injury.<\/p>\n “We spent hours doing our research on how best to keep it healthy and we have no regrets on bringing it home. Evie has named him Dippy D – Dippy after the bridge where it was found and D for dragon as it is our Welsh Dragon.<\/p>\n “We’ve got a much bigger tank, and we plan to get that set up so it can be transferred.”<\/p>\n Year 5 pupil Evie told how she caught the axolotl with her bare hands from the river to prove to her mum she wasn’t lying.<\/p>\n She said: “I was just playing down by the river lifting things up to see what I could find and I lifted up a green mat and saw an axolotl.<\/p>\n “I knew what it was straight away because I saw its gills. I have seen them on Youtube on Minecraft videos and other videos showing how to look after them.<\/p>\n “I ran up to my mum shouting, ‘I’ve found an axolotl, I’ve found an axolotl’ – but she did not believe me at all.<\/p>\n “But she told me not to go back in the water and then I went down to the bank and spotted it again. So I jumped in and caught it with my hands. I went back to my mum and said, ‘I’m sorry I broke the rules but look I’ve caught the axolotl’.”<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melanie Hill said she could not believe what her daughter found while they were on holiday near the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[56734,1397,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-550772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-bridgend","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_Girl10-finds-endangered-Mexican-axolotl-in-Welsh-river.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Person](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Girl10-finds-endangered-Mexican-axolotl-in-Welsh-river.jpg\")
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