SCOTTISH Beavers, a partnership between Edinburgh Zoo-owner the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, has completed its work to move beavers from Tayside to Knapdale in Argyll.
The organisation moved 21 beavers between 2017 and 2019, and has now finished assessing the success of its project.
The original beavers released in Knapdale came from Norway, while the Tayside beavers originate from Bavaria.
Gill Dowse, knowledge and evidence manager at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: “The Scottish Beaver Trial was a landmark conservation project that showed how beavers can create and restore important wetland and native woodland habitats.
“A limited number of beavers were introduced during the trial, so it was important to go back and release more beavers, giving them a good chance to thrive.
“After three years of fieldwork, we can be confident this reinforcement project has been a success, and that we have done all we can to bolster the wild population in Knapdale.”
Helen Taylor, the RZSS’s conservation programme manager, added: “Monitoring the beaver population in Knapdale for the past three years and tracking the fortunes of these newly-released animals has painted a clear picture of a steadily growing population that is beginning to spread out into all the various waterways available in Knapdale Forest.
“It’s been fantastic that the project provided an initial solution for moving beavers from high-conflict areas in Tayside into Knapdale, where their positive impacts on the environment and on native biodiversity are clear to see.”
Read more stories on Scottish Field’s wildlife pages.
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