{"id":30847,"date":"2023-07-21T09:45:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T07:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=78502"},"modified":"2023-07-21T10:35:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T08:35:44","slug":"beaver-protections-should-be-reviewed-say-mps","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/beaver-protections-should-be-reviewed-say-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaver protections should be reviewed, say MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Influential committee argues the UK should follow German model and allow local communities to control beavers without unnecessary bureaucracy <\/p>

By James Fair\n \t\t<\/p>

2023-07-21 07:45:18<\/p>

\n\n

Rewilding experts have reacted with dismay after a group of MPs called on the Government to remove the protected status for beavers<\/a> that was only brought in last year.<\/p>\n

Sir Robert Goodwill, chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee<\/a>, said current protections for beavers were too stringent and would discourage landowners from supporting reintroduction proposals.<\/p>\n

Sir Robert described a visit to Bavaria where the committee had learned how beavers could be trapped and moved, or even culled, on the authorisation of a \u2018beaver ambassador\u2019 if their dams were flooding farmers\u2019 fields or creating other problems.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, the landowner had the right to modify a dam to reduce its impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the UK, because of legislation brought in last October, it would be a criminal offence to reduce the height of a dam,\u201d Sir Robert said. \u201cYou\u2019d have to make an application to Natural England<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A report<\/a> published by the committee also called on the Government to bring in a compensation scheme for farmers affected by reintroduced species.<\/p>\n

But Rewilding Britain<\/a> said that the committee had not heard any evidence suggesting the beaver\u2019s protected status should be reviewed. \u201cWe can only conclude that this is the result of behind-the-scenes lobbying by a vocal minority,\u201d it said in a tweet.<\/p>\n

Sir Robert said the suggestion came entirely as a result of the visit to Bavaria and the fact that the reintroduction had proved so successful there.<\/p>\n

There are several populations of wild-living beavers in Britain, most of them as a result of accidental or illegal releases.<\/p>\n

There are populations on the River Otter in Devon, the Avon in Wiltshire and at Ham Fen in Kent, while the largest group is in the Tay Valley in Scotland.<\/p>\n

There have been many releases of beavers into large enclosures, too.<\/p>\n

Beavers were added to Schedule 2 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 on 1 October 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It makes it an offence to \u201cdeliberately capture, injure, kill or disturb beavers, or damage and destroy their breeding sites or resting places without a licence from Natural England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main image: Eurasian beaver swimming with a branch on the River Tay, Perthshire, Scotland. \u00a9\u00a0Gregg Parsons\/Getty<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n