I heard some time ago that there were to be attempts to reintroduce beavers the UK, but I haven't heard much about it since. I remember hearing that about 5 years ago a group tried to reintroduce them in England but they failed to breed, and that the next attempt would probably be in Scotland.

Has anyone heard anything about this? I would love for it to happen.

This post was last modified: 22-07-2007 04:39 PM by Kingfisher.

We had a thread about this a while back:

http://www.wildlifeuk.net/runaway-beaver-t-67.html

and another one, as well.

I haven't seen any updates on the re-introduction, so I would assume it was not a success.

Kingfisher

The recommendation was the Scotland could hold up to 1000 beavers, as long as there was a reforestation scheme that happened parallel to the reintroduction. This was the preliminary report and I don't think the actual reintroduction has happened yet.

Reintroduction has worked in Germany and other European countries so there's no reason why it couldn't happen in Scotland.

Tibbar14 found some new information for us about the re-introduction of beavers into the UK. These beavers have not been released into the wild to fend for themselves, but I would imagine that could be a possible goal.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/boltoninf..._years.php

Kingfisher

Thanks for the link tibbar,

Its good that the beavers have been released into an enclosure, I would imagine that would be the first step. Its also going to help educate people about beavers and how they can affect the environment, which will help to get some support behind any future release attempt.

Its a good way of seeing how beavers can live in the British countryside, and it does raise awareness, but from the article it doesn't seem that there is any plan to release the beavers in the near future.

It might not be a short-term plan, but I'm sure that any scheme like this would have a long term goal of releasing the beavers into the wild. That is the reason for raising awareness in the first place.

Yes, I would imagine it would be to get people used to the idea that beavers are native, that they aren't pests, and to accustom people to what they look like. So I would think that it is indeed a long term goal.

Kingfisher

I hope it is a long term goal, it would be very exciting to have beavers around and have the chance of seeing them in their natural habitats. Imagine going out and seeing beavers working!

I have also heard that beaver ponds are great places to view wildlife as they make a good habitat, so that would also be a bonus.

It would be very exciting to have the chance of seeing a beaver, or even just their work because they are difficult to see, just ask Kingfisher

It would be very exciting to have the chance of seeing a beaver, or even just their work because they are difficult to see, just ask Kingfisher

I've seen two dead ones, and two live ones (both the live ones were spotted in British Columbia, and both dead ones here in my home state of Washington.

I'm not doing very well for spotting them at home, eh?

Kingfisher

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've been looking around the WWW and can't find much of anything new about reintroducing beavers over here, has anyone heard any news?

After a bit of research I can't seem to find any new information on the beavers that were introduced to the wild in 2005, but I assume they are doing well.

Those Beavers on the link featured in 'Autumn watch' & also get a mention in the December's issue of 'Countryfile' magazine.

That is good news, they are obviously well on their way to become an established group then. It is great to hear they have even managed to make it this far!