Beavers in Devon

If Scotland was province of Sweden or Finland, bears, wolves and lynxes would be living there without any controversy.

Scottish highlands have enough space, food (deer) and low human population for all these animals.

There are now very well established, simple ways to avoid livestock losses from wolves and bears. Electric fencing od pastures, and closing sheep at night are two examples. European countries with predators now have a system demandong farmers to protect their flocks and compensating in money for loses. Cost of these is normally very small in the scale of the country.

Presence of big carnivores could actually be profitable for tourism in Highlands. These treeless glens would be ideal for watching wolves and bears. Because sheep farming in Scotland is very unprofitable, this may be interesting.

And yes, lots of children and adults go in the woods where wolves and bears live all the time in Central and Eastern Europe, and nobody gets bitten (actually, it is very rare even to see a wolf or a bear).
 
It's pure fantasy and will be outside the pale for most purists....but it would be great if the UK would fill their wolf niche with Red Wolves. Obviously the species is non-native, but as I've probably said before, European Wolves are 10,000 years removed from Britain's extinct wolves. Red Wolf restoration in the USA is complicated by the emergence of the Eastern Coyote as a hyper-adaptive peer carnivore that outcompetes, outbreeds, and looks enough like the Red Wolf to subject the Red Wolf to mistaken identity shootings (not precisely the Coyote's fault). Of course there is reasonable debate as to if the Red Wolf is even a separate species (I saw a very large Coyote in Alabama in the mid-1980's that looked very Wolf-y to me....and I know Coyotes...refer pics on ZooChat). Still with protections, and a lack of Coyotes, and no chance (rather unlikely anyway) of polluting native wolf populations...Scotland could in the manner of Anthropecene migrations...save the American Red Wolf. Deer, particularly during fawning seasons and hard winters (?) would be controlled, Red Foxes would decrease, Badgers might, Hares and Rabbits would adapt...Wild Cats might really suffer to be honest...but from cloud cuckoo land the Red Wolf and Scotland would go together very well. Ecological balance restored, species (however dubious) conservation would achieved, and Wolves, of a sort, would enrich Britain's wildscape. On a related note actual Coyotes would do extremely well in Britain. Of course this (Britain as a Coyote-free, Red Wolf refuge) will never happen....but I think European Wolves are unlikely to ever be introduced either...so if you're gonna dream...dream boldly.
 
England's wild beaver colony has kits

England's wild beaver colony has kits - BBC News

A female from the first wild beaver colony in England for centuries has given birth to at least two young.

New footage shows the kits being helped through the water by their mother.

The images taken in Devon by local filmmaker Tom Buckley provide the first evidence of the new arrivals.

The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) said the slowly expanding population would help to provide an insight into their effect on the surrounding River Otter system in east Devon.

The Angling Trust warned that a population increase could have detrimental effects on other wildlife.

Mark Elliott, from the DWT, said: "We are thrilled that the beavers have bred. The baby kits appear fit and healthy … This tells us that the beavers are very much at home in this corner of Devon."

The two females were found to be pregnant when they were taken in to captivity to be tested for disease. It's not thought that the other female has yet had her kits.

Hunted to extinction

The colony of wild beavers was first spotted living on the River Otter in February 2014.

In January 2015, Natural England granted a licence to the Devon Wildlife Trust that allowed the beavers to remain on the river, as part of a pilot experiment.

This is the first time that an extinct mammal has been re-introduced to England. Other species, such as wild boar, have naturalised after escaping from enclosures.

Beavers were hunted to extinction in England and Wales for their valuable fur and glandular oil during the 12th Century and disappeared from the rest of the UK 400 years later.

Steve Hussey, from the DWT, said "We have no plans to tag them at the moment. If we do, it will just be for identification purposes. The less we disturb them the better.

"They are healthy beavers, so they will breed. But they are not like rodents, they only have one litter a year, and they take two to three years to reach sexual maturity. The river system in east Devon is nowhere near filled to capacity. "

Beavers are known as a "keystone species" because of the dramatic impact they have on their environment. They fell large and small trees, and create sophisticated dams that hold vast amounts of water. They use these lakes as "superhighways" to get to foraging areas.

Tom Buckley commented: "When I saw these new born baby beavers I was totally overwhelmed and I thought it was a miracle.

"One of the kits, however, seemed extremely unhappy to be out in the big wide world and as soon as its mother let it go, it rushed back to its burrow. Not surprising really - the world can be a very scary place."

Mark Owen, from the Angling Trust, said the fact the young beavers would not be tagged or tracked meant the trial lacked any "scientific credibility".

'Irresponsible programme'

"There is an increasing prospect of a population explosion that could do considerable harm to other wildlife through the uncontrolled damming up of watercourses which can, among other things, prevent fish from reaching their spawning grounds," he said.

"This irresponsible programme should never have begun and it won't be long before the substantial sums spent in other European countries in dealing with problems caused by beavers will be required here in the UK."

But Friends of the Earth campaigner Alasdair Cameron said: "[Beavers] bring huge benefits to the countryside - boosting biodiversity and keeping the rivers clean - we're delighted that they are back and doing well."
The DWT is urging people not to search for the kits as they would be disturbed by noise and dogs.
Click to expand...
 
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