Ministers urged to reintroduce beavers

Scottish wildlife experts have urged the government to ignore “hysteria” and get on with reintroducing beavers to the wild.

RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust are among those calling on ministers to make a decision – two years after the official trial reintroduction ended.

A report on the five-year trial in Knapdale, which ended in 2014, said the animals had benefited the ecosystem and boosted tourism.

Beaver expert Roisin Campbell-Palmer, who helped Royal Zoological Society of Scotland at the start of the Knapdale programme, said: “We need to boost biodiversity, we need to restore our wetlands. We need them for the good of our planet.

A five-year scheme was introduced in Knapdale, Argyll and Bute, in 2009 in a bid to reintroduce the animals to Scotland after 500 years.

A report by Scottish Natural Heritage revealed how beavers had benefited the ecosystem by gnawing down trees and damming lochs and streams, allowing other species to flourish.

The document also showed how the animals had given a boost to local tourism.