Walker finds dead beaver on popular beach

Discovery sees agency cite ‘concerns about beaver persecution’

A stunned Broughty Ferry couple were horrified to find a dead beaver washed up on the beach.

The carcase was discovered near Broughty Ferry Castle by nurse Angela Galbraith during an early-morning walk. She brought her husband Stephen back to the beach to show him, then called Dundee City Council who vowed to have the animal removed.

Angela, 48, said: “I was walking down by the beach at about 8.45am this morning when I saw it.

“At first I thought it was a seal but when I went closer I could see it was a beaver and you don’t usually get them on the beach, although a couple of years ago there was one in Monifieth.

“My husband, who is a doctor, thought it looked like the beaver had damage to both of its legs but it didn’t look like it had been shot and its coat was in good condition so I don’t think it had been in the water long, if that’s where it had been. Maybe someone has thrown it in the water and it has washed up here.

“It is really big, about a metre long. I called the council and they said they’d be out to remove it before the tide came in.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Wildlife Trust said: “Beavers have been found in and around the bottom of the River Tay and beavers have been seen in Broughty Ferry as well.

“Obviously there are concerns about beaver persecution, especially since they were given protected species status on May 1 this year.

“Scottish Natural Heritage issues licences to land owners and farmers for the management of beavers.

“It depends on what licence they apply for as to what action is taken, including lethal control.”

A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “The council responded to a call and will be removing the dead beaver from the beach.”

Since May 1 in Scotland, it has been illegal to kill the animals, or to destroy established dams and lodges, without a licence. In the first four weeks since the protections came into force, Scottish Natural Heritage received licence applications and proposals for the relocation of up to 50 beavers in Tayside to new homes across the UK.

The nature body has also received applications for 29 permits to remove dams, with “lethal control of beavers” as a last resort.

SNH said it was working with licence holders to explore all avenues, in the hope it can avoid any deaths. It said no beavers had been shot under licence to date – as far as it is aware – since the law went live at the start of May.

A dead, pregnant beaver was found near Crieff at the start of May. It had been shot.

Picture: Steve MacDougall. The animal was found by a member of the public.