The Eurasian beaver. Source: NY Times.
In the 16th century, the Eurasian beaver was hunted to extinction in Great Britain, and almost to extinction in the entire continental Europe, for its fur, meat, and castoreum (a fluid used for perfume and flavoring). After 16th-century hunting, only three populations of the Eurasian beaver survived, in specific regions in Norway, Germany, and France. In the 1990s, beaver populations were recovered and reintroduced to much of Europe through the EU Habitats Directive. While more than 200 beaver translocation projects across 25 European countries took place, the United Kingdom did not take part.
In 2008, the Scottish Wildlife Trust was able to secure a license for a trial reintroduction of beavers in Scotland. In 2009, the Scottish Beaver Trial began, in which 16 beavers were released and closely monitored in Knapdale, a rural district in western Scotland. The population of beavers increased, and in around 2015, an unmanaged population of beavers was found in Tayside, another region in Scotland, due to either accidental escape or illegal release. In the following years, a fiery debate broke out between farmers and conservationists over the ultimate fate of Scottish beavers.
Farmers in the Scottish lowlands view beavers as an invasive species. The dams that beavers build flood the farmers’ agricultural land, causing crops to rot. In addition, beavers gnaw at trees, which cause them to decay or fall. They also damage drainage systems and burrow into river banks, making it dangerous to use tractors near water.
In response, farmers in Tayside killed many beavers during the period from 2015 to 2019 without any restriction. In 2019, the Scottish government gave European Protected Species Status to beavers, meaning they could only be killed if they damaged “prime agricultural land” or infrastructure, and only if no alternative was available.
Despite this legal protection afforded to beavers, the Scottish government has been criticized for being too liberal in distributing licenses to landowners to kill beavers and remove their dams, without encouraging the pursuit of alternative options first. Through the end of 2019, Scottish beavers’ first year of legal protection, a total of 87 beavers were killed legally. That figure rose in 2020, with farmers killing 115 beavers, a number representing more than 10 percent of Scotland’s total beaver population of around 1000.
Beavers are a keystone species. Source: BBC News.
Conservationists have been dismayed by these statistics. They argue that beavers are a keystone species, and that the wetlands they create bring benefits to other species like water voles and shrews, birds, fish, and invertebrates. For example, beavers build and maintain dams that can slow water flow during times of raging flood and hold it during times of drought. Dams and wetlands are also filters for agricultural run-off and other pollutants, improving water quality. To make their dams, beavers cut down trees, and eat the inner bark of those trees. These trees that the beavers kill become standing dead wood, which is needed by species such as woodpeckers, owls, beetles, and fungi. Instead of killing beavers, farmers could be fencing off their land, or adapting beaver dams to limit their height. Valued trees could be fenced off or wrapped. But many farmers find it easier to simply kill the beavers rather than to pursue these mitigation approaches.
The true problem, conservationists say, is not the beavers. They put the blame on farmers, who refuse to pursue more environmentally friendly options and believe that any land that does not produce a crop is wasted. But in lowland Scotland, farmers are upset with beavers impeding their ongoing efforts to drain the land. Martin Kennedy, the president of the National Farmers Union Scotland, said that recent flooding caused by the dams has damaged vegetables worth about 25,000 pounds. He also claimed that the issue is “bigger than Brexit” to some farmers. A farmer named Adrian Ivory asked, “If you rewild everywhere, where’s your next meal coming from?” The farmers feel that their livelihoods are being threatened.
This debate over beavers in Scotland is emblematic of several other debates playing out around the world. Issues and conflicts between farming, biodiversity, and land use interests abound globally. The tension between rewilding nature that has been destroyed by land use and intensive agriculture to sustain food supplies is truly a global phenomenon; as the Scottish beaver saga continues, it could serve as an international example or talking point in similar debates for years to come.