Call to bring beavers back to UK

THE Government is being urged to speed up moves to restore beavers to the countryside to boost wildlife, tackle flooding and protect the environment.

More than 60 leading conservation organisations, country estates, experts and campaigners have called for an ambitious strategy to bring back beavers amid concerns over delays to decisions on the mammal’s future.

Beavers were once native to Britain but were hunted to extinction around 400 years ago.

They are beginning to return, with licensed wild populations in Scotland and Devon, as well as unlicensed wild beavers in various parts of the UK and a number of projects to release them into fenced areas of the countryside.

A five-year project by Devon Wildlife Trust to study the role of the wild beavers on the River Otter in the county concluded earlier this year that they can live alongside people and deliver benefits for nature and communities.

The beavers build dams and make ponds that help reduce flooding, improve water quality, create habitat for other wildlife, and boost the local economy through eco-tourism, the study found.

Now conservationists want to see the Environment Department (Defra) commit to a “pragmatic and ambitious” strategy by the end of 2020 for restoring beavers in England to deliver benefits to landscapes and people.

In a letter led by the Beaver Trust, conservationists also called on ministers to ensure there is no moratorium on the “current, effective” system of licensing beaver release projects and to speed up “reasonable” applications.

Conservationists expected a beaver strategy for England to be published in April, but it has not been released.

And a decision on the future of the River Otter beavers which will affect other schemes - has been pushed back until August.

Wildlife experts are concerned over the delays.