A project returns the rodents to London after a 400-year absence
AFTER BEING HUNTED TO EXTINCTION 400 years ago, beavers have returned to London with the 21st-century aims of helping to tackle the climate crisis and improve biodiversity.
A pair of beavers has been released into a 6ha enclosure, which contains a running stream, at the Forty Hall organic farm in Enfield, north London.
The animals have been brought in thanks to their prowess as natural ecosystem engineers, able to create wetland habitats through dam-building. “By exploring natural flood management techniques, such as this beaver project, we can reduce the risk of harm from flooding following extreme rainfall, protecting hundreds if not thousands of local homes,” says councillor Ian Barnes, Enfield Council’s deputy leader.
Eva Bishop, communications director for the Beaver Trust, says that beavers could happily live in big cities such as London. “Beavers are a very adaptive species and will live where there is water and sufficient food to forage. There’s no reason we can’t live alongside beavers in British cities.”
Releasing beavers into the wild in England is not yet authorised, however a government consultation into the future of beavers in England is expected to be published this spring.