Letter: Beaver attack

Your article reporting the “concerns” of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association (SGA) about “damage” done by wild beavers (18 May) is yet another in a series of ill-informed attacks that you have seen fit to publish concerning these wonderful and beneficial animals.

The so-called “damage” done to the countryside by beavers is nothing of the sort.

Coppicing riverbank trees (not forestry in general) and creating areas of wetland, both beneficial to a wide range of species, is what beavers do.

They are the keystone species of wet woodlands and since they were hunted to extinction for their valuable pelts, they have been the missing link in our ecology.

They also mitigate droughts and flooding and are a benefit to salmon.

We should be celebrating their return.

The government has set up a monitoring group to help deal with any real problems they may occasionally create.

David Gibbon

Jordan Lane

Edinburgh