Arable farmers hit out at costs
A section of the local farming community has hit out at the Scottish Government’s decision to allow beavers to stay in the country and be afforded protected species status.
Meigle farmer Peter Grewar, who is also chairman of the Meigle Burn Group, said that he thought the decision was wrong and claimed that farmers whose land was inhabited by beavers would face additional costs.
He said:“I think the Scottish Government are wrong to give any protection to what is the world’s second largest rodent.
“Beavers will have no natural predators to keep their numbers in check. Since June 2013, members of the Meigle Burn Group have removed in excess of 50 beaver dams from the Meigle Burn. Had they not been removed there would have been much flooding on the flat arable land.
“It is impossible to keep beavers in the areas where the landowners actually want them. Once they have devastated one area they move onto another.
“Why should arable farmers be saddled with the associated costs of patrolling and removing the dams?”
Meanwhile, in a statement released last week, the National Farming Union of Scotland (NFU Scotland) insisted that “proper management of the species is fundamental in order to avoid unacceptable impact on agriculture”. The statement went on to claim that in some places “beavers are
having an unacceptable impact on agriculture”.
Rob Livesey, NFU Scotland’s vice-president, commented:“The union is adamant beavers must be appropriately managed to minimise the risk of unacceptable impacts on agriculture and other land uses – a view that is shared by many within the conservation community.
NFU Scotland says that it, along with other land management and environmental organisations, recently wrote a joint letter to environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham to set out what they see are the“broad principles and key components of an appropriate management regime”.
Mr Livesey continued:“It is essential Scottish agriculture is not negatively affected by this decision and its implementation, and NFU Scotland will continue to work with its members whose land
has been impacted .” Says Peter Grewar