Beavers could return to British waterways but farmers fear their impact

BEAVERS could be making a comeback in the wild, hundreds of years after they vanished from Britain's waterways. Wildlife groups back the return of the aquatic mammals, which manage the landscape by cutting down trees and damming rivers, for the benefit they can provide in preventing flooding, maintaining water quality and boosting other wildlife. But farmers and anglers have raised concerns that they can damage the landscape and fish migration routes, and conservation efforts should be focused on the UK’s existing wildlife. Despite the concerns it appears that the beaver, which was hunted to extinction by the 16th century, could once again become a permanent feature of waterways in England, Scotland and Wales, as they have across Europe. The Welsh Government’s conservation agency Natural Resources Wales is working with Wildlife Trusts Wales on the possibility of introducing beavers to Wales, with potential releases in 2015 or 2016. A five-year trial introducing the aquatic mammals into Knapdale, Argyll, in west Scotland has just concluded, and conservationists are hopeful the beavers will be able to stay. In addition to formal reintroductions, beavers have been released or escaped from captivity, colonising Tayside in east Scotland, where there now could be be as many as 250 animals. Monitoring in Tayside is being carried out until early 2015, and the Scottish Government is expected to make a decision on the future of beavers in Scotland later next year. Simon Jones, director of conservation for Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: “We want to see the return of the beaver to Scotland, because it brings many benefits with it, environmental, educational and tourism.” He acknowledged there were costs involved, and said the choice was about whether people wanted to live with beavers again – something he said surveys suggested the public largely backed. In England, there are several projects keeping beavers in large-scale fenced-in areas, for example to manage nature reserves, and the mammals have also been discovered living wild in Devon’s River Otter. The Devon beavers have been in the river for at least three years, though there are suggestions they may have been there for up to a decade. Evidence first emerged this year that they had produced young, known as kits. Read more: http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Beavers-return-British-waterways-farmers-fear/story-25800626-detail/story.html#ixzz3NsWPgBiZ