Beaver calls Italy home for first time in 500 years

A BEAVER has been spotted in Italy for the first time in nearly 500 years, after it walked over the border from Austria or Slovenia into the Dolomites.

The first clues that the rodent might be back on Italian soil were noticed by a hunting guide who spends his days roaming the mountains and forests.

Reinhard Pipperger saw that young trees had been felled along a stretch of the Sesto river.

“At first I thought someone had chopped them down with an axe. But then I looked more closely and saw the teeth marks. They were cut recently – I would estimate the beaver has been in the area for a couple of months,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

A few days later came definitive confirmation – the beaver was photographed by a camera set up along the river by wildlife rangers.

Conservationists believe it is a young male, weighing around 25kg, and that it is building a lodge before winter comes.

The last record of a beaver in Italy dates back to 1542, on the river Po in the north of the country. The last surviving beaver in the Dolomites was recorded in 1594, but the region was then part of the Austro-hungarian empire.

The species was hunted not only for its fur but for its meat and a substance it secretes called castoreum, which was used in perfumes and medicines.

A beaver was spotted on the border between Austria, Slovenia and Italy two years ago, but this is the first time that the animal has been recorded deep inside Italian territory.

For now, it appears that there is a single animal living along the river.

“We will have to see if a female turns up. Then they might establish a breeding population.” said Mr Pipperger.