Beaver artwork is moving memorial
Online tribute to animals shot under licence
An a r t ex h i b i t i o n highlighting the public outpouring of love and grief in art and poetry for beavers shot under licence in Tayside features a powerful symbol of the policy’s impact on the animals.
Titled ‘87 Beavers: In Memoriam’, the showcase is an art action project featuring work from more than 100 artists of all ages.
It has been curated by the Scottish Wild Beaver Group (SWBG), working in collaboration with Extinction Rebellion, and aims to highlight the plight of beavers in Tayside and the fact that 87 beavers – nearly one fifth of the local population – have been killed under licence in 2019.
And one of the most powerful pieces in the exhibition is an installation by George Finlay Ramsay of 87 pieces of a beaver skull found in Strathearn that was shattered by gunshot.
The project is also supporting crowdfunding efforts by Trees For Life for its legal challenge to the Scottish Government’s nature agency NatureScot, formerly Scottish Natural Heritage, over what the conservation organisation describes as the government’s “failure to make the killing of Scotland’s wild beavers a genuine last resort when the species needs to be managed”.
Earlier this year an online petition organised by Trees for Life calling on the Scottish Government to capture and relocate beavers rather than shoot them was signed by nearly 17,000 people and was the most-signed Scottish Parliamentary petition in over a decade.
The moving exhibition is on display at a new studio gallery on the Bamff Estate near Alyth, home to a colony of beavers, and is open for viewings by appointment only until Thursday this week in order to comply with social distancing guidelines.
A film and photographs of the exhibition launched online on Wednesday to ensure that as many people as possible are able to see the artwork despite Covid-19 restrictions.
Louise Ramsay, from the Bamff Estate and the Scottish Wild Beaver Group, explained how the exhibition came about.
She said: “Extinction Rebellion and the Scottish Wild Beaver Group have collaborated to create a memorial to the 87 beavers that were shot under licence in 2019 with an art exhibition highlighting the loss of these wonderful animals, which are agents of beneficial change, and are still rare in this country.
“This wanton killing occurred at a time when the world is facing
the consequences of devastating climate change and biodiversity loss and the thinking behind creating this memorial is to draw attention to the situation and to work to ensure that such excessive licensed killing of these legally protected animals can never happen again in Scotland.
“Over 100 professional and amateur artists, poets and children have produced a wonderful body of work accompanied by strongly worded messages expressing dismay at the situation.”
A number of the original pieces of artwork submitted for the exhibition are now up for auction and a selection of the work has also been made into a calendar which is on sale online, with proceeds going towards the Trees for Life crowdfunder.
Louise said: “Like many members of the public, we are horrified that government policy led to the unnecessary death of so many beavers last year, just after this small re- establishing population – still at a vulnerable stage – was given legal protection.
“We are also appalled by the recent revelation that the official training sessions for beaver shooters were given in a jokey tone, suggesting that these beavers would be a good source of food or subject for taxidermy.
“We are fully supportive of Trees for Life’s crowdfunder for the legal challenge.
“The approach which trained over 200 beaver killers while only licensing one person to live- trap beavers, and ruled out translocation around Scotland, is catastrophically wrong.
“It is clear that the option to move beavers to other parts of Scotland would help reduce the conflict on Tayside, as well as spreading their many benefits more widely.
“Most parts of Scotland would experience very little conflict, but where it arises shooting should be used only in the absolutely last resort, and not until all suitable habitats are filled - and certainly not as the ‘go-to’ solution.
“The Scottish Government approach has unnecessarily aligned conservationists and
wildlife lovers in opposition to some farmers in Tayside.”
She continued: “SWBG’s vision of the future, which takes full account of the real conflict that can occur at times between beavers and farmers on low-lying agricultural land, is focused on three potential solutions – mitigating beaver impacts through fencing and flow devices, incentivising farmers to farm less intensively close to water courses and to allow natural river management, and, in the case of conflicts that cannot be resolved, for the beavers to be trapped and relocated to other parts of Scotland where they will be welcomed and can benefit nature and human communities.
“Currently the Scottish Government will not allow translocation to anywhere in Scotland outside Tayside and Knapdale and has accredited over 200 individuals to shoot beavers in Tayside, liberally issued killing licences to farmers, resulting in a shocking level of licensed killing.
“While trapping and moving beavers to England is occurring in limited numbers and is preferable to shooting them, it is a travesty that these beavers cannot be moved to other parts of Scotland as well.
“SWBG will continue to campaign for better beaver policy until killing beavers genuinely becomes an option of absolutely last resort.”
For further information on the 87 Beavers project and exhibition, see online at www.bamff.co.uk/ wildland or www.87beavers.org.uk.
The artwork online auction can be found at www.jumblebee.co.uk.
The calender can be bought online from auction website eBay while stocks last.