23 December 2007
Plans to bring the beaver back to Scotland four centuries after it was hunted to extinction have taken a crucial step forward this weekend.
Two wildlife groups have formally applied to the Scottish government for a licence to introduce up to 20 European beavers for a trial at Knapdale forest in mid-Argyll.
The application follows a two-month public consultation which found strong support for the trial, with three out of every four responses from mid-Argyll favouring the idea. It is opposed, however, by landowners and farmers around Knapdale.
Plans for reintroducing beavers were rejected by the previous Scottish Executive in 2005, after a sustained campaign by local landowners. But the Sunday Herald revealed in June this year that the new Scottish Nationalist environment minister, Michael Russell, wanted to reopen the issue.
“I look forward to considering the application for the reintroduction of beavers in Argyll and will consider this in full consultation with Scottish Natural Heritage,” Russell said yesterday.
“I will remain open-minded and listen to the objections but I hope the application is strong enough to be considered positively. I understand from the public consultation there has been a largely positive response.”
Beavers were wiped out in Scotland in the sixteenth century. They were killed for their furs, which are soft and waterproof, and for the oil they secrete, castoreum, which has medicinal benefits and was believed to enhance sexual potency.
Bringing beavers back now would be the first ever planned reintroduction of a mammal into Scotland. To date only birds, such as the sea eagle and the red kite, have been officially reintroduced.
The two organisations behind the planned trial are the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), which helps to run a wildlife reserve at Knapdale, and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which owns Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie.
On Friday they lodged an application with the government for a licence to introduce three beaver family groups, likely to consist of between 15 and 20 animals. The plan is to bring the animals over from Norway in autumn 2008, and then release them at Knapdale in spring 2009, after six months quarantine.
The impact of the beavers will then be monitored and assessed, with the ultimate aim of introducing them elsewhere in Scotland. The European beaver (Castor fiber) is a different species from its north American cousin (Castor canadensis), which is confined to Canada and the US.
“The first UK beaver trial reintroduction into the wild offers a unique opportunity for stimulating public interest in a high profile and inspired conservation programme,” said SWT’s chief executive Simon Milne.
“Beavers are a missing element of our native biodiversity and were lost due to human activities. They are an important keystone species in riparian habitats and their activities help to help to build healthy and resilient ecosystems.”
According to RZSS chief executive, David Windmill, the potential revenue from beaver-inspired tourism in Scotland could exceed £1.1 million. “Tourism plays a major role in the local economy,” he said.
“There are significant opportunities to further develop tourism in Argyll and Bute, using the distinctive character of the area and the wealth of opportunities to see amazing wildlife including, we hope, the beaver,” he said.
Last week, SWT and RZSS published the results of their public consultation into the beaver introduction plan. Across mid-Argyll 73% of those who responded were in favour, but in the vicinity of Knapdale itself 57% were opposed.
Some local people are worried about the damage that beavers might do to the local environment. Robin Malcolm, who owns the neighbouring Duntrune Castle estate at Kilmartin, has claimed that they would fell trees, build dams and drown the landscape.
Altogether 466 people, 80% of whom were from mid-Argyll, plus 16 organisations submitted responses to the consultation. In 1998, a survey of 2,141 people across Scotland found that 63% supported reintroducing beavers, with only 12% against and 25% without a view.
Hello,
This is good news for the beaver.
Well done Scottish Natural Heritage. I see you are taking the practical decision as taken in the late 19th Century by the then dictatorial Tsarist Government who reintroduced the European Beaver into the Baltic States, (now Nations) of Lithuania and Latvia.
For this you are such clever people.
Now beavers range over large areas of these at least two BN and number well over a 6 figures and participate in their natural place in the biodiversity.
It is a pity that the Scots could not take a similar view for the Elk, Lynx and Wolf which occur in all three BN in areas of limited human population and input and have profound affect in being part of the proper EU regulation allowance of natural biodiversity the right of existence based on historical distribution.
The Baltic Nations tolerate the larger predators not because they are subservient to fearful landowners loss of insured domestic animals, but because they understand their heritage far better than the Scots do. Oh I know there are many Scots that may agree with these opinions but in the main the Scots are like the Norwegians. They want their cake but they do not want wolves to have their share. Pity really for wolves are one of our best climate allies. For where there are wolves (and lynx) there are improved and more diverse natural forests....if you see the ecological link.
So it seems our educational systems still has a lot to do in catching up with the natural heritage education which is conditional in Baltic peoples.
Think on this and please Scottish cousins try to act more like your cousins in the Baltic Nations and Poland who understand where you have the space and a smaller population wolves, lynx, elk and forests are more extensive and life is more pleasant for ALL.
Yours,
Nigel Miles
Research Ecologist (in Baltic Nations)
Sustainable Development Teacher (in UK)
Posted by: Nigel Miles | 18 February 2008 at 09:58 PM