Letter: We can learn a lot from beavers

The main reason for retaining the Tay beavers is that we will learn much more from them than we will from the official Scottish Government trial in Argyll, because there are ten times as many of them on Tayside, they are breeding and spreading happily, and they will come into contact with a wider range of other land uses here. We will learn a lot from this, and how to deal with it.

Landowners here are more curious than afraid of the beavers, and many will happily tolerate them as long as there is some sort of mechanism in place to keep track of the situation, and to manage problem situations if they arise.

Scottish Natural Heritage is looking at how other countries manage beaver populations and what measures might be applicable in Scotland. Many people will be keenly watching how SNH and the environment minister Stewart Stevenson handle this situation.

Victor Clements, Scottish Native Woods, Aberfeldy