Citing the revival of England’s beaver population as a “public good,” Environment Minister Rebecca Pow mentioned that there will be ongoing attempts to conserve the species, including possibly compensating farmers and landowners in exchange for allowing the animals to live on their land.
Image Credit: PublicDomainPictures.net/Silviu Firulete
In a landmark judgment, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs has decided to legally grant 15 Eurasian beaver families the
permanent “right to remain” within their habitat on the River Otter in East
Devon, England.
The “most groundbreaking government decision for England’s wildlife for a
generation” comes following a five-year study by the Devon Wildlife Trust
regarding beavers’ impact on the local environment and marks the first time
in history the English government has supported the reintroduction of an
extinct native species within the country. Beavers proved beneficial to the
local ecology, the study showed, leading to increased fish biomass, improved
water quality, and more food for other animals. Meanwhile, their dams serve
as effective flood barriers, preventing nearby homes from being filled with
water during storms.
Around 400 years ago, beavers in England went extinct after people hunted
them for their meat, fur, and a bodily fluid called castoreum, which is used
in perfume, medicine, and food, according to BBC. Since then, the first
evidence of a wild breeding population in the country appeared in 2013, when
video footage of a young beaver swimming along the River Otter surfaced.
At first, the government threatened to remove the beavers, as
unsubstantiated rumors about activists illegally releasing them into the
wild in an attempt to revive their numbers surfaced. The Devon Wildlife
Trust and University of Exeter, however, won a hard-fought legal battle for
the right to study the creatures, who are now legally protected regardless
of whether they were deliberately or accidentally returned to their natural
environment.
Citing the revival of England’s beaver population as a “public good,”
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow mentioned that there will be ongoing
attempts to conserve the species, including possibly compensating farmers
and landowners in exchange for allowing the animals to live on their land.
There are around 50 beavers living along the River Otter today, all of whom
are considered disease-free and non-threatening to the local communities and
wildlife that they share their environment with.
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