Scottish wild beaver numbers expand rapidly

400 years after we wiped wild beavers out in the UK they started being reintroduced in 2009, and at present only Scotland and the River Otter in Devon are home to free-ranging wild beavers.
In Scotland though numbers have more than doubled in just three years!

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How long before the trophy hunters are out there, bagging the first one.

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Apparently beavers are a protected species, I wonder if this will stop the trophy hunters?

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I wonder if climate change is going to affect beavers too, with our weather patterns changing here in recent years?
:question:

Maybe the additional rainfall will cause difficulties with the dams the beavers make.
They could well be wrecked with all that additional water to keep back. :open_mouth: :thinking:

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Thatā€™s pretty much what I was thinking, and it would be a bit of a bu@@er after reintroducing them and other animals and birds that could well find themselves in difficulty because of a changing climate.
:thinking: :unamused:

I,m afraid Beavers, although cute little critters that they are can be very destructive.
Ther destroy young trees, block waterways causing flooding. If they are kept under control then fine, no problem but otherwise Oh Dearā€¦

But these were native animals for centuries if not millenia, and they are being reintroduced because of the benefits they can bring to the natural habitats of a diverse range of both flora and fauna.

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As I have said, If they are kept under control then that,s fine but look at the damage they have done in North America and Canadaā€¦ Men are employed there to destroy Beaver dams as their dams are causing wide spread flooding in some parts and thousands of trees are being destroyed by them in the building of these dams and lodges but we must not condemn them for doing this as this is what Beavers do.
I am all for re-introducing these non native spicies into this coiuntry but they must be kept under control.

I was sad to see on Countryfile (I think it was) that they are already having to cull beavers in Scotland because the reintroduction has gone almost too wellā€¦

Culling beavers

Some of the beavers are doing a magnificent job damming rivers to restrict the flow in the process creating new wetland habitats and preventing flooding ā€¦

Yes. I hate to see any animal being culledā€¦ You say the Beaver helps to prevent flooding but they are doing just the opposite. by damming rivers and streams they are causing water to back up.
If the Beaver is good for the countryside then why are they having to cull them?
If I remember rightly wild Boar were re-introduced somewhere in the country. I think it was the Forest of Dean and the damage they have done is tremendous and they can be dangerous if they think they think they are in danger and people have been warned to stay well clear if they should come into what they may think is their territory.

Your concerns seem to regard the Americas though.
This is not the Americas.
From my readings on beavers here they do not appear to be causing problems, besides which they must surely be more-easily managable here in our relatively small countries?
Iā€™m pretty sure that the conservationists and others involved know what theyā€™re doing.

Of course the conservationists know what they are doing, I hope so anyway. My point is that if these animals must be kept under control then there will be no problems.
Culling is a way to do this Down here in the New Forest the deer population have to be kept under control and now and then the keepers have a cull of the male deer (Stags)
No-one likes to see such a majestic animal killed but it has to be done.
The same thing must be done regards the Beaver. They must be kept under control.
As you say they are causing no problems. Not yet they are not and this is because they are being kept under control.

The easily-offended should look away round about now and bypass this post at least.

Just think: if all else does fail in the future, when you turn their pelt into a hat it keeps your neck warm.
No, it isnā€™t a pic of me either.
He has loads more hair of his own. :grin:
image

How can you tell a Scottish beaver from an English one ??
Just asking?? :thinking::thinking:

Donkeyman! :+1::+1:

That hat looks more like a racoon Zaph??
The idea was good though !! :hugs::hugs:

Donkeyman! :+1::+1:

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The ā€œdamageā€ they cause is debateable BB ??
When compared to the DAMAGE we cause, which was mostly caused by human farming !!
I expect most of the ā€œdamageā€ reports are from farmers it truth be told ??
They spent years trying to drain the land to create ā€œarableā€ fields and wiping out the beavers and other
Wild life, and now beavers etc are being reintroduced ???

Donkeyman! :+1::thinking::thinking::+1:

Perhaps the sound Scottish beavers make has a Scottish accent!

No, just joking (as you will probably realise)! From what I can find though there is only the one species but where they are to be found gives them the title ā€˜Scottishā€™ or ā€˜Englishā€™. I also found there is one titled ā€˜Welsh beaverā€™ residing, not surprisingly in Wales. :grinning:

It hoots mon!

As a Scot I can say that.
:grin:

Hey, if youā€™ve been close enough to eitherā€™s rear end to tell the difference Iā€™m not going to argue.
:rofl: