The nature quango that otter know better!
BOTH enjoy swimming, both have beady eyes and short, brown fur, and both, it can be argued, are rather cute.
For most of us, that is where the similarities between an otter and a beaver end.
But, bizarrely, that was not the case when Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) published a report on beavers online last Thursday. An accompanying announcement, on its website, was illustrated with a picture – of an otter.
The Eurasian (European) beaver – a separate species to those found in America – is heavily built and up to three feet long.
Meanwhile, the river otter has a long slender body, white underside, small ears, a long, thick tail and weighs around the same as a medium-sized domestic cat.
Yesterday, SNH said the mistake had been quickly noticed and the online report altered.
A spokesman said: ‘The otter and the beaver pictures were beside each other in the library. They were very similar, they were both in water with their noses peeking out. This was a simple mistake.’
The Scottish Government quango oversaw the controversial reintroduction of beavers as a protected native species in Scotland more than three years ago.
Its report, Beaver Licensing Summary 1st May to 31st December 2019, gave new statistics on the numbers of the animals shot under licence since protected species status was enshrined in law.
It was described as ‘a report on the challenging balance to be made between protecting beavers in Scotland and helping to prevent serious damage to some farmers’ land’.
It said that 87 beavers were shot under 16 licences and 83 beaver dams were removed under 19 licences last year.
Fifteen beavers were live-trapped under licence and relocated to other areas, including Devon and Somerset.
Environmental campaigners last week condemned the number of beavers killed and urged relocation of the animals.