Beaver reintroductions in the UK

[Maguari]

Allright, not the way I would go about it. But the source populations in Bavaria are a dead give away: these are all Eurasians, no historical mixing with Canadian/North American beavers.

Yes, but no-one knew that!

I think it's pretty clear that those behind the unofficial/'extra-legal' beaver release on Tayside were not cowboys and knew what they were doing. Multiple lineages of one appropriate population of the correct species is pretty impeccable. (If they were accidental escapes, then likewise, they were accidental escapes from someone who knew what they were doing in keeping and breeding them - though that doesn't seem likely to me.) BUT remember we didn't know that. The beavers just appeared in the mid-2000s, and no-one knew where they came from. No-one has admitted to releasing them still. Because it wasn't an official release, there was nothing to say that these were Bavarian beavers until they were tested.

However they got there, though, they were not only an apparently successful reintroduction but also very helpful in getting the idea of beaver reintroduction into the mainstream and into more widespread areas. Again - if this was a deliberate release, I suspect this was part of the idea..!

 

[Pertinax]

I omitted Wild Ken Hill, Norfolk, as mentioned earlier in this thread. Another participant.

 

[Pertinax]

Yes, but no-one knew that!

I think it's pretty clear that those behind the unofficial/'extra-legal' beaver release on Tayside were not cowboys and knew what they were doing. Multiple lineages of one appropriate population of the correct species is pretty impeccable. (If they were accidental escapes, then likewise, they were accidental escapes from someone who knew what they were doing in keeping and breeding them - though that doesn't seem likely to me.) BUT remember we didn't know that. The beavers just appeared in the mid-2000s, and no-one knew where they came from. No-one has admitted to releasing them still. Because it wasn't an official release, there was nothing to say that these were Bavarian beavers until they were tested.

However they got there, though, they were not only an apparently successful reintroduction but also very helpful in getting the idea of beaver reintroduction into the mainstream and into more widespread areas. Again - if this was a deliberate release, I suspect this was part of the idea..!

The beavers now established on the river Otter in East Devon seem to have had a rather similar history.

 

[DesertRhino150]

It would be interesting to compile a list of all the seperate Beaver reintroduction projects in the UK now. Apart from Tayside that is, I know of;

Knepp in Sussex.
Holnicote Estate.Exmoor.
Location near Plymouth
Cornwall (Hanbury-Tennison project).
Derek Gow Devon?
River Otter- now established/free living.

Must be others too by now?

I omitted Wild Ken Hill, Norfolk, as mentioned earlier in this thread. Another participant.

As well as these locations, there are several others that I have just seen mentioned in the news item below:

Hatchmere near Delamere Forest, Cheshire (released in 2020)
Lowther Estate in Cumbria (released in 2020)
Spains Hall Estate near Braintree, Essex (bred for the first time in 2020)

There are also imminent plans for a release at Willington in Derbyshire.

According to the news item there are now around 500 beavers living, mostly in enclosures, in the UK.

Why 2020 has been good for England's beavers

 

[DesertRhino150]

A pair of beavers were released into an enclosure on the Knepp Estate in Sussex in mid-November; their release was not publicised so that the animals experienced minimal disturbance as they settled in. However, on 9th December the male of the pair was spotted outside the fence swimming on the River Adur - the first to swim in this river in over 400 years.

In the interest of the animal's safety, it is hoped that the male beaver (nicknamed Bramber) can be recaptured and returned to the enclosure.

More information comes from the Knepp Estate blog, included below:
Beaver exploring the Adur landscape — Knepp Wildland

 

[Terry Thomas]

Some excellent homegrown news! Now, what are the chances of doing the same for lynx, wolf and bear? If there is belief, it CAN happen.

Do you really think that introducing wild bears is a good idea for UK?? Even wolves and lynx would certainly cause problems, both with people, domestic animals and wildlife. Introducing, or reintroducing any potentially dangerous animals into the UK countryside, should be very carefully considered!! There is not a lot of space in UK for some species to thrive in, without coming into contact with the population. Nice ideas, but not very practical in the long run......

 

[birdsandbats]

Do you really think that introducing wild bears is a good idea for UK?? Even wolves and lynx would certainly cause problems, both with people, domestic animals and wildlife. Introducing, or reintroducing any potentially dangerous animals into the UK countryside, should be very carefully considered!! There is not a lot of space in UK for some species to thrive in, without coming into contact with the population. Nice ideas, but not very practical in the long run......

Wolves, bears, and people coexist fine in many parts of North America at least. Whether this could happen in the UK or not I don't know.

 

[Maguari]

Wolves, bears, and people coexist fine in many parts of North America at least. Whether this could happen in the UK or not I don't know.

Thing is, @Terry Thomas is not wrong - we are a very small landmass with an awful lot of people and we simply don't have a huge amount of carrying capacity for large animals, large carnivores in particular. Lynx I think could probably work in parts of Northern England and Scotland. Wolves - maybe in Scotland at a push. Bears, I'm really not so sure. All three would be very unlikely. To be honest, I'd be fairly surprised if even lynx is attempted in the next 10 years. But, I'm also surprised at the speed beavers have become regular arrivals and at bison being tentatively begun, so what do I know?

 

[lintworm]

Thing is, @Terry Thomas is not wrong - we are a very small landmass with an awful lot of people and we simply don't have a huge amount of carrying capacity for large animals, large carnivores in particular. Lynx I think could probably work in parts of Northern England and Scotland. Wolves - maybe in Scotland at a push. Bears, I'm really not so sure. All three would be very unlikely. To be honest, I'd be fairly surprised if even lynx is attempted in the next 10 years. But, I'm also surprised at the speed beavers have become regular arrivals and at bison being tentatively begun, so what do I know?

Wolves have established themselves in the Netherlands now, with one breeding pair and it seems like 3 other territories, but here they are connected to the German population, establishing them on an island could be more tricky, although Scotland should be big enough

 

[Zorro]

It would be interesting to compile a list of all the seperate Beaver reintroduction projects in the UK now. Apart from Tayside that is, I know of;

Knepp in Sussex.
Holnicote Estate.Exmoor.
Location near Plymouth
Cornwall (Hanbury-Tennison project).
Derek Gow Devon?
River Otter- now established/free living.

Must be others too by now?

Would there be any idea of overall numbers and would you know if any more imports are planned!

 

[Pantherinae]

In terms of the reintroduction of lynx and wolves, I think that northern England and Scotland have viable opportunities for small populations. The plan to reintroduce six Eurasian lynx in Kielder Forest looks possible; there is just opposition from local farmers and locals in rural villages. With more education on the species, I think the majority may be in support of the reintroduction in the future. It appears that some farmers think the lynx will become beasts that will clear all of their livestock - which is very unlikely to happen. On the other hand, I think that the reintroduction of bears in the UK just seems impossible. In comparison to lynx and wolves, bears are much larger and would require more space, which I think the UK can no longer provide.

Back on topic, it's great to see the success so far with the reintroduction of beavers - very reassuring. It's looking very hopeful for the future.

 

[Jana]

. In comparison to lynx and wolves, bears are much larger and would require more space, which I think the UK can no longer provide.

This is wrong way to think about it. If we would forget negative reactions of locals, (mostly vegetarian) brown bears would be the most suitable species for the UK because they can live in much higher densities than the strictly territorial lynx and wolf. So their population could survive better genetically given a small restricted range.

Let me give an example. Slovakia has populations of all 3 species, and their ranges are almost identical (mountains in north, central and east of the country). The same range sustains 1200-1600 bears (latest estimate), 400 wolves (with hunting quota circa 50 per year, so undisturbed balanced population could be slightly higher) and less than 300 lynx (total ban on hunting, largest distribution out of the three).

Lynx is an individualistic, shy and specialized hunter, requiring forested undisturbed area and living in the lowest population density - single male requires 350-450 km2 territory tolerating 1-2 females.

Bears are omnivorous, very adaptable plastic species, not much territorial when food is abundant, and hibernating during winter. They can live in much high densities - in Tichá dolina (mountain valley at over 1000meters elevation in Tatry) 40 bears live at area less than 60 km2.

 

[Pertinax]

Would there be any idea of overall numbers and would you know if any more imports are planned!

Most of the latest rewilding projects seem to involve just pairs at present. I don't know about any other planned projects but its catching on and I'm sure there will be more.

 

[Terry Thomas]

Wolves have established themselves in the Netherlands now, with one breeding pair and it seems like 3 other territories, but here they are connected to the German population, establishing them on an island could be more tricky, although Scotland should be big enough

How long would it be before wolves impacted on humans and domestic stock?? Then there would be culling on a regular basis, just to control the numbers. What would be the outcome if someone was killed?? (Please do not tell me that wolves could not kill a human.) Bears could certainly help control the human population, and being omnivorous, are of course very fond of small children! UK is much too small for many species to be introduced, and what was OK thousands of years ago, is no longer practicable today.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

How long would it be before wolves impacted on humans and domestic stock?? Then there would be culling on a regular basis, just to control the numbers. What would be the outcome if someone was killed?? (Please do not tell me that wolves could not kill a human.) Bears could certainly help control the human population, and being omnivorous, are of course very fond of small children! UK is much too small for many species to be introduced, and what was OK thousands of years ago, is no longer practicable today.

The last record of a wolf killing a human being in Western Europe was in the 1980's and occurred in Spain I believe.

Contrary to some of the feel good myths out there they do certainly kill humans on occasion and this is usually either due to rabies or disturbance of a den where pups are present (I believe this was the cause of the attack I mentioned in Spain). Historically though it did occur in some areas such as France and Italy as an act of predation too.

I totally agree with your statement. It is far more practical to conserve the wolf in areas of Western Europe where it is well established such as Spain and Italy. It is also worth focusing on the conservation of the wolf where it is currently recolonising its former range like France, Belgium, Germany , Netherlands etc.

The idea / argument of reintroducing the wolf to the UK strikes me as such an esoteric and unrealistic pipe dream that it absolutely isn't worth bothering with. Basically it is just lots of academics doing the equivalent of what theologians did in Medieval times with contemplating and arguing how many angels could dance on the tip of a needle.

I believe that the best and most realistic options for rewilding in terms of carnivores are the smaller carnivores like the Eurasian wildcat and possibly the Eurasian lynx and I do hope that these efforts will be successful.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Thing is, @Terry Thomas is not wrong - we are a very small landmass with an awful lot of people and we simply don't have a huge amount of carrying capacity for large animals, large carnivores in particular. Lynx I think could probably work in parts of Northern England and Scotland. Wolves - maybe in Scotland at a push. Bears, I'm really not so sure. All three would be very unlikely. To be honest, I'd be fairly surprised if even lynx is attempted in the next 10 years. But, I'm also surprised at the speed beavers have become regular arrivals and at bison being tentatively begun, so what do I know?

There was a paper (and I can't remember what it was called but it was very interesting) that suggested that the carrying capacity for wolves in Great Britain had already been reached by Anglo Saxon times.

If the assumption / findings of that paper are correct then carrying capacity was already reached in the dark ages (over 1000 years ago).

I really don't know why people waste their time on arguing the case for bears and wolves in the UK, I mean is this a poetic / philosophical question ?

If it is then people should simply state that this is where they are coming from because it is clearly based in romanticism and not in any sound ecological understanding of what wolves require or socio-ecological understanding in terms of human-wolf conflict.

If people want to conserve these animals then just look South to Cantabria and Asturias in Northern Spain or the Abruzzo in Italy where these predators are still extant and need all the help they can get in terms of conservation.

If people want to see them in the wild then book a flight to Italy or Spain and take an eco-tour and get out there and help support eco-tourism which directly benefits the conservation of these animals.

I think that the species that people really should focus more on in the UK should be the smaller carnivores like the Eurasian wildcat, the pine marten and in terms of rewildling possibly the Eurasian lynx.

 

[lintworm]

How long would it be before wolves impacted on humans and domestic stock?? Then there would be culling on a regular basis, just to control the numbers. What would be the outcome if someone was killed?? (Please do not tell me that wolves could not kill a human.) Bears could certainly help control the human population, and being omnivorous, are of course very fond of small children! UK is much too small for many species to be introduced, and what was OK thousands of years ago, is no longer practicable today.

According to a Slovenian Wolf expert there are no substantiated cases of a wild Wolf killing a person in Europe (it has happened in the US and in a captive setting). Naturally Wolves are shy animals. They do kill livestock (mainly Sheep), but with the right fencing (which is subsidized) you can limit this to a huge extent. Even then every documented Wolf kill will get you compensation. That said, when looking at the number of livestock killed by Wolves, it is completely dwarved when compared to the number of animals domestic dogs kill. Culling problematic Wolves might be necessary in the future, but currently there is a lot of potential free space accross the continent and the population is nowhere near carrying capacity.

Compared to Wolves, Brown Bears are a much larger potential human-wildlife conflict as they are omnivorous and will scavenge near human settlements (notorious example is the city of Brasov in Romania). Even then Brown Bear attacks are very rare and are mostly caused by stupid people, not by the bear...

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

It was interesting at the TetZoomCon this weekend, where there was a presentation on British Big Cats. One researcher who visits rural shows and the like collects votes. Interestingly, he always gets a majority of votes for the view that, if they do exist, they should be left in peace. It suggested to me that the anti-carnivore viewpoint may well be noisier but weaker than the pro lobby. Of course, it only takes the snare of one anti to outdo all the good work of the pros!

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

According to a Slovenian Wolf expert there are no substantiated cases of a wild Wolf killing a person in Europe (it has happened in the US and in a captive setting).

Then I don't think he / she is much of an expert then as there are a number of cases of this happening in the last century.

Moreover, there are many more cases of it happening historically.

It doesn't actually help when well intentioned conservationists create mythologies about species which don't correspond with the facts.

Is the wolf a ruthless and inconsumate predator of human beings ? No, of course it isn't.

Does the wolf occasionally kill human beings under a certain set of ecological, epidemiological or situational circumstances / stressors ? Yes, it is very rare nowadays but sometimes it does happen.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

According to a Slovenian Wolf expert there are no substantiated cases of a wild Wolf killing a person in Europe (it has happened in the US and in a captive setting). Naturally Wolves are shy animals. They do kill livestock (mainly Sheep), but with the right fencing (which is subsidized) you can limit this to a huge extent. Even then every documented Wolf kill will get you compensation. That said, when looking at the number of livestock killed by Wolves, it is completely dwarved when compared to the number of animals domestic dogs kill. Culling problematic Wolves might be necessary in the future, but currently there is a lot of potential free space accross the continent and the population is nowhere near carrying capacity.

Compared to Wolves, Brown Bears are a much larger potential human-wildlife conflict as they are omnivorous and will scavenge near human settlements (notorious example is the city of Brasov in Romania). Even then Brown Bear attacks are very rare and are mostly caused by stupid people, not by the bear...

This is from a very comprehensive paper on wolf attacks on humans called "Predators That Kill Humans: Myth, Reality, Context and the Politics of Wolf Attacks on People" by John D.C. Linell.

Historical attacks by rabid wolves on humans :

"Several patterns emerge from these historical studies. Firstly, despite the total number of cases being quite high, when considering the long time scales (centuries) and large spatial scales (multiple countries) it is clear that being reported as killed by a wolf was not a common event in historical Europe. It is also important to bear in mind how many countries have no such records although this could indicate either that such events did not occur there or that there was an insufficient effort to search for available historical material. Secondly, most of the wolf attacks tend to fall into two categories: rabid or predatory attacks (Linnell et al. 2002 ). Rabies was a prevalent and wellknown disease in Europe prior to the mid-twentieth century, having occurred at least since antiquity (Théodoridès 1986 ), and rural people would have been very familiar with it. The historical material contains many detailed accounts of rabid wolves biting multiple people within a few hours inside a limited area."

"Characteristics of such attacks include the behavior of the wolf, the biting of multiple people/animals and the failure to consume the victims. The ferocity of the initial attacks and subsequent infections typically killed many people because of the lack of a treatment for rabies prior to the end of the nineteenth century. Attacks by rabid wolves in historical times have been documented across central, southern and Eastern Europe, including Spain, France, Germany and the European part of Russia (Alleau 2011 ; Butzeck 1987 ; Comincini 2002 ; Moriceau 2007 ; Rootsi 2003 ; Teruelo and Valverde 1992 )."

Historical predatory attacks on humans in Europe:

"The second category of attacks concerns multiple cases of individual attacks on people within a limited area over a period of months or years. In these cases, children tended to be selected and the bodies were normally dragged away and consumed. Usually, the episodes ended after some years, or after intensive wolf hunting killed many local wolves. However, in some regions such episodes tended to reoccur after several decades. These cases received a very different treatment in historical records, as they were viewed as being something extreme and outside the normal (of how wolves were meant to behave). Based on the accounts, it appears that these were predatory attacks where individual wolves/wolf packs learnt that it was possible to kill young humans. It must be born in mind that the landscape context and agricultural practices in which these attacks occurred were very different from today’s Europe."

"It was a period with an intense human pressure on the landscape, with relatively little forest and little wild prey. Livestock (in addition to carrion and garbage) would have been the main prey of wolves, and the only thing standing between the wolves and this prey would have been unarmed child shepherds in fragmented landscapes with dispersed settlements (Alleau 2011 ). Firearms were also generally absent. These clusters of predatory attacks have been described from historical sources from Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy (Alleau 2011 ; Comincini 2002 ; Lappalainen 2005 ; Moriceau 2007 ; Pavlov 1982 ; Pousette 2000 ; Rootsi 2003 ; Teruelo and Valverde 1992 )."

Attacks in mid to late 20th century :

"In modern times, there have been relatively few predatory attacks on people, so that there is comparatively little material to study. In Western and Northern Europe , wolf populations were greatly reduced, although larger populations persisted in the south and east. The only cases known from Europe are from northwest Spain in the 1950s and 1970s. In three separate episodes, four children were killed and four injured. These cases were investigated by biologists, and it seems possible that wolves were responsible for the attacks (Teruelo and Valverde 1992 ). More cases are known from India in the 1980s and 1990s where at least three different episodes of predatory attacks on children have been relatively well documented in Bihar (Shahi 1982 ; Rajpurohit 1999 ) and Uttar Pradesh (Jhala and Sharma 1997 )."

"These cases consisted of clusters of attacks spread over several years that would indicate that one or a few packs developed this specific behavioural pattern. The series of attacks ended when the responsible pack was eradicated. Most recently, a series of cases of predatory attacks have been reported within a localized region of western Iran (Behdarvand and Kaboli 2015 ; Behdarvand et al. 2014 )."

Conclusion points to ecological drivers of attacks :

"The major cases of predatory attacks from historical Europe, Spain in the 1950s and 1970s and India in recent decades are all associated with a very specific set of circumstances. They are linked to landscapes with very fragmented habitat, low densities of wild prey, wolf dependence on livestock and anthropogenic foods and high human densities living poor rural lifestyles. They are also all focused on defenseless children placed in vulnerable situations. It can also be related to specific sociopolitical circumstances such as famine, the pandemics such as bubonic plague (“black death”) or war which created social and economic disorganization with unburied bodies (Alleau 2011 ; Moriceau 2007 ). These circumstances change the relationships between wolves and humans and increase the probability of undesirable behavior occurring (Alleau and Linnell 2015 )."

Risks in present day Europe and North America:

"From the perspective of present day Europe and North America, it implies a very low risk of such behaviours emerging. These areas currently have very abundant wild prey populations, increasing areas of forest, and rural populations that are generally not conducting activities that would constitute risks (e.g. using children as shepherds). However, certain risks may still remain in other parts of Eurasia or the Indian subcontinent."