Beavers proving to be great dividers

The latest round of furious claims over Tayside beaver control has added fuel to an already raging fire.

Whether the animals are a welcome addition to our natural habitat or a pestilential menace to farmers, there is no denying that they are now back, thriving and here to stay.

Leaked documents appear to have revealed many landowners and estate managers are killing off the animals before Scottish Government legislation can be passed.

According to the emails the Scottish Government’s own environmental directorate described the situation as “depressing but not surprising”.

It seems clear, then, that the solution has to be a Holyrood decision to determine the future of the species.

The Scottish Wild Beaver Group has called for “urgent action” on the problem before relations between the warring factions on either side of the debate deteriorate further.

In suggesting that farmers are provided with incentives to stop culling beavers the organisation is at least putting forward something of an olive branch, although whether that will be grasped remains to be seen.

For its part, the National Farmers’ Union in Scotland has made it abundantly clear that it sees the rodents as an illegally introduced blight that causes severe damage to farmland.

It is now important that a swift and robust ruling is made.