Eager beavers return to their Scottish roots

Published on Thursday 20 November 2008 22:29

Opinions are divided over the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland 400 years after being hunted to extinction. Some believe they will

FOR some, their return will only bring destruction. But for others their arrival is a historic triumph that will lead to the first extinct mammal to be reinstated in the wild in the UK.

Either way, the beaver is back. Some 400 years after they were hunted to extinction, four beaver families have arrived in the UK ahead of their re-establishment in Scotland.

The animals – originally from the Telemark region of Norway – were flown into London's Heathrow Airport, but now face six months in quarantine before they are released in to the wild in the spring.

The trial project by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and Scottish Wildlife Trust will see 17 of the creatures – four sets of parents and their offspring – released in Knapdale Forest, mid-Argyll, after they have spent six months in quarantine in pens in Devon.

Simon Jones, project manager for the Scottish Beaver Trial, said: "We are excited to get the trial under way and really see what benefits beavers can bring."

The idea of bringing back the beaver was first mooted in Scotland ten years ago, and Rob Thomas, conservation and research manager at RZSS, is relieved it has finally happened.

"For over ten years, a lot of people have put a lot of work in trying to swing the political will to allow this project to go ahead," he said. "It's started and stopped in the past and this is by far the most developed point this project has ever got to. It's almost the point of no return."

He said there were many benefits of bringing beavers back to Scotland. As well as attracting tourists – with plans for a new visitor centre and hides for late-night viewing of the nocturnal creatures – they could benefit Scotland's ecology.

He said the animals would create new wetland habitats, by building dams that cause rivers to flood, which would benefit numerous species, from frogs and toads, to wetland birds, voles, insects and some fish.

Michael Russell, the environment minister, added his support to the project. "This is the latest stage in a truly exciting development for wildlife watchers, not just in Scotland, but around the world."

However, Brian Davidson, the director of the Association of Salmon Fisheries Boards, thinks beavers might cause havoc for migratory fish, such as salmon and sea trout, by building dams that block their routes to spawning sites.

"Beavers tend to build dams in quite small water courses and this is where salmon and sea trout tend to spawn," he said.

"The fisheries boards have got legal powers to maintain the free passage of fish, so there is potential conflict."

Nick Yonge, clerk to the River Tweed Commission, is equally worried about the possible impact on the angling industry, which on the Tweed alone brings 18 million to the economy.

"I'm worried that in our successors' lifetimes they will rue the day that these things were ever let wild," he said. He thinks a full-scale risk-assessment is needed.

"If you don't do that, what we are effectively doing is setting up a huge experiment in Scotland on the basis that some people think beavers are wonderful. I think we are morally obliged to undertake this research."

Jane Karthaus, from the Confederation of Forest Industries, warned that in some Baltic countries where beavers have returned after being wiped out, they have multiplied so rapidly that they have had to be culled.

"Should we really be introducing a species that we may ultimately have to kill to keep under control? Is that morally and ethically responsible?"

And she worried about the impact on landowners. She added: "There will be areas where they fell trees, make dams and flood a bit of land.

"If we want to create more wetland, let's chose a spot and do it in a managed way. Landowners and land managers have enough issues to deal with without having a new one."

A spokesman for NFU Scotland called for compensation for any economic loss suffered by farmers or crofters. Mr Thomas confirmed that compensation would be paid if substantial damage was caused by the beavers, but he added that he did not "anticipate" that it would be a significant issue.

The beavers will be monitored, with the possibility of another trial in a second location in 2012. If the trial is deemed unsuccessful, the beavers will be gathered up and returned to Norway.

Lochside lodges will be kit homes

SPECIAL homes stocked with carrots and turnips will be built for the beavers before they arrive in Knapdale Forest.

Each beaver family will be released into its own home, known as a lodge, on the edge of a loch.

The lodge, made of straw, will have a willow gate, which the animals will gnaw through in their own time, when they are ready to explore.

The lodges will be built far enough apart for the beavers to have their own territories, but they will all be well within the trial area in Knapdale.

It is anticipated the animals could continue to use the lodges as their permanent homes, but equally could build a new one nearby, or explore further afield.

By 2010, the project organisers believe the young beavers, known as "kits", from different families could have met and started to breed.

They could then spread out, building new lodges for their own families.

Beaver families usually consist of four to six animals. The animals are vegetarian, eating mostly grass and herbs during summer and bark from broad-leaved trees in winter.

They construct dams in rivers and streams so they can then build a home in the still pool of water created by blocking the flow.

Rob Thomas, from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said it was difficult to predict how the animals will behave when they are released, but Knapdale Forest provided an ideal habitat, meaning it was unlikely they will stray further afield, at least for the first year.

It has been agreed with British Waterways Scotland that any beavers that stray down to the nearby Crinan Canal will be removed and returned to the trial area, in case they cause damage.

Mr Thomas thinks it is more likely they will disperse further into the forest, in the direction away from the canal.

Biologists spent two months capturing the creatures, at night, in Norway.

They ventured out in boats on rivers, armed with flashlights and jumped into the water when they spotted the animals, using specially-designed nets to catch them.

Should wild beavers be re-introduced to Scotland?

Yes

IT WAS at the hands of humans that beavers were wiped out in Scotland four centuries ago, so we should bring them back.

As well as having a moral obligation to return the animals, European laws demand countries investigate whether extinct native species can be returned.

And beavers could bring potentially huge benefits to waterside habitats.

Dams will cause waterways to flood, creating new wetland areas where many other species can thrive.

The economic benefits from tourism could also be huge.

No

IN ESTONIA, beaver numbers swelled from 1,000 to 10,000 in 15 years after they were re-established in 1985. Front-page newspaper stories describe the devastation that has resulted – from trees felled across roads to waterways damaged.

How much support will the beavers get when they attack plants in botanic gardens, gnaw down people's apple trees and cost the taxpayer millions of pounds for damaged canals to be fixed, and compensation to be paid to landowners?

And how will the multi-million-pound sea trout and salmon industry cope when dams block vital fish migration routes?