Beaver flees his enclosure in city

PLYMOUTH’S new resident beaver is back home after making an escape bid, according to police.

Officers snapped the runaway creature in the city last week. The male was released into an enclosure near Poole Farm in Forder Valley in November – the first in the city for 400 years – as part of a project to bring wildlife back into the heart of Plymouth.

Officers based at Charles Cross police station say they were confronted with the “unusual sight” of the beaver at large last Monday. He has since been recaptured.

The 20kg male Eurasian beaver was caught in late September in the wild from the Tay Catchment in Scotland. He was released as part of a nationwide project to reintroduce beavers in the wild.

The beaver’s behaviour and actions have been monitored in the hope that its actions will reduce flooding and create habitats for wildlife in Plymouth’s Bircham Valley.

The Plymouth release is part of the Green Minds project, a Plymouth City Council initiative which will re-wild urban parks, gardens and verges.

Beavers create wetland habitats which are great for birds, fish and invertebrates and they also ‘slow the flow’ of water during and after rainfall that can help reduce flooding downstream.

It is planned to release a female beaver in Plymouth soon to keep the male company – which may stop him running away.