87 beavers are shot dead in a year ‘as last resort’ to save crops
NEARLY 90 beavers have been legally killed in an effort to prevent damage to crops.
Eighty-seven of the creatures have been shot dead under licence, with 15 moved to other sites in the first year after being given protected status.
A Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) report describes the animals as ‘ecosystem engineers’ that provide ‘huge benefits to people and nature, improving water quality and flow, and creating habitats that foster many other species’.
However, the quango added that beavers could also cause serious issues for land managers, such as flooding of fields and crops.
As a result, it said, it was sometimes ‘necessary to manage beavers and their dams’.
Scotland’s beavers have enjoyed European Protected Species status since May 1, 2019.
But the SNH report shows that between that date and December 31, the body issued 45 species licences to farmers and landowners in Tayside, permitting either lethal control or dam removal.
This led to 15 beavers being trapped and moved to either Knapdale, Argyll, or a trial reintroduction project and fenced sites in England.
Eighty-three beaver dams were removed and 87 beavers shot ‘by trained accredited controllers’.
SNH said the licences were only issued when there was ‘no other effective solution to prevent serious agricultural damage’. Livetrapping, it added, was not always possible because of the nature of some sites and the behaviour of individual animals.
Beavers in Tayside and surrounding areas have largely been released without authority or escaped from captivity. Some have settled on prime agricultural land, the most productive and important farmland, classed as being of national importance.
Robbie Kernahan, SNH director of sustainable growth, said: ‘Lethal control of beavers will
‘Necessary to manage dams’
sometimes be necessary under licence as a last resort.’
Beavers were released in Knapdale Forest, near Lochgilphead, as part of a project to restore the native species more than 400 years after the animals were hunted to extinction north of the Border.
Their protected status means it is illegal to carry out lethal control of beavers or destroy established dams and lodges without a licence – a move that conservationists hoped would help enable the animals to expand their range.
The SNH report indicates that 33 per cent of licence requests were refused and one additional licence was granted to allow an ecologist to live-trap beavers from sites where lethal control may otherwise have been employed.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) described the figures as ‘alarming’.
Sarah Robinson, SWT’s director of conservation, said: ‘Heavy localised culling is halting the ability of animals to spread through a vacuum effect.’