Proposal to reintroduce wild beavers intoWales
Beavers could return to Wales for the first time in hundreds of years in 2017, as reintroduced populations in other parts of the UK thrive.
Wildlife experts in Wales are submitting a licence application to release 10 beavers in an as-yet undisclosed area in the south of the country with the hope that the reintroduction could begin in the coming year.
It comes after the Scottish government decided to allow the animal, hunted to extinction in the 16th century in Britain, to remain in Scotland and be listed as a protected species after a successful reintroduction.
The five-year Scottish Beaver Trial saw a group homed in Knapdale Forest, Argyll, while another settlement emerged on the River Tay from illegal releases a decade ago.
And in England, the beavers on the River Otter in Devon have seen numbers increase, with both established pairs producing young, or kits, this year.
One of the females produced five kits, well above the average of three babies, the programme’s manager Mark Elliott said.
A new male and female released on to the River Otter in May to increase the genetic diversity of England’s only wild beaver population have also settled in well, he said.
Alicia Leow-Dyke, Welsh Beaver Project officer for the Wildlife