The Town of Three Rivers has chosen a mascot to represent the community: a river otter named Rivv. 

The eastern P.E.I. town’s council announced the new mascot during its March 9 meeting. The idea was selected from more than 15 submissions from residents. 

“Mascots can be fun and symbolic and certainly, as far as community building and identity, I think that this is a great image for our community,” said Dorothy MacDonald, the town’s community services manager. 

She said it was “heartwarming” to see residents come together to build a symbol for the relatively new town. Several former municipalities, including Cardigan, Montague and Georgetown, amalgamated to form Three Rivers in 2018.

“Those submissions make us feel like we’re working toward building a great community here,” MacDonald said.

Other concepts put forward included a poodle and turtle, while others centred around a captain character.

Rivv was one of multiple designs submitted that featured a river otter theme, MacDonald said.

“The story goes that our rivers used to have a lot of otters in them,” she said. “In the last couple of years there’s been [signs] that otters have made a comeback.”

Nearly 100 years after they disappeared from the province, river otters have again been spotted on the Island. 

The species is native to P.E.I., but was thought to have died out in the early 1900s due to a loss of habitat, poaching and trapping. 

Since 2016, however, there have been new sightings.

River otters are mustelids — part of the weasel family — and are brown and sleek, appearing almost black in colour when wet. 

The town’s mascot will now be professionally designed and a costume will be built, MacDonald said, and the contest winner will be recognized at a launch later this year.

MacDonald said Rivv will be playful, wise and knowledgeable, adding that the hope is he will be ready for this summer.