Save The Free Beavers of the Tay Facebook group
Activists looking to save wild beavers living in Tayside have turned to the internet to bolster their campaign.
- Published in the Courier : 13.01.11
- Published online : 13.01.11 @ 06.02am
Nearly 400 people have joined a Facebook group objecting to a Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) project that is trying to trap up to 20 of the mammals that live in the region.
The group, titled Save The Free Beavers of the Tay, has members from across Scotland and as far away as North America with the aim of preserving the creatures in their current home.
SNH, which is carrying out the trapping in conjunction with local landowners, have so far caught only one beaver since the initiative began in November, and claim that their release into the wild had been illegal.
However, campaigners insist that the animals should be left in their current home and have turned to the net in order to promote their cause.
A statement for the group said, "The dozen or so families of native beavers that are living and breeding in the Tay river and its tributaries are under threat from government agencies, all because their presence is an embarrassment to the official trial re-introduction in Argyll.
"Scottish Natural Heritage has contracted another agency to trap and remove all the beavers.
"They claim they will go to English zoos but it seems likely that many will have to be culled.
"Please support this group if you do not wish to see the pointless and expensive extermination of a native animal which contributes immense good to ecosystems."
Scottish Natural Heritage maintains that the trapping of the beavers is necessary, and claim that their release was illegal and that they may not be appropriate species or types of beaver for Scotland.
SNH has also said that trapping will halt in the spring when females begin to give birth.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user gainesp2003.
08.57am - 13.01.2011 Dundoniensis - Dundee, Uk Report This
SNH's policy is utterly daft. Why trap them here and introduce them in another area? Won't they just get here eventually? What evidence is there that they are causing any harm in Tayside? Better left in the wild rather than stuck in a zoo!
08.41pm - 14.01.2011 Andy Maidlow - Brighton, England Report This
Please leave these animals alone
04.02pm - 15.01.2011 Marion Moss - Hoddesdon, United Kingdom Report This
Please leave the Beavers whee they are, they are an asset to our wildlife.
01.42pm - 26.01.2011 margaret - Dundee, Scotland Report This
leave these creatures alone so much interference, eagles INTRODUCED to this area are picking of wild fowl at an R S P B reserve like a takeaway, as if there are a not enough predators lets add some more
10.02am - 31.01.2011 Lorna - Aberfeldy, Scotland Report This
How do you tell the difference between otter tracks and beaver tracks on snow?<br />Wondering which are living near us.
04.55pm - 31.01.2011 claire hewitt - aberfeldy, scotland Report This
Whats wrong with them being on the ~Tay..they obviously feel quite at home and are happy there...they have a right to be living there ...why not? What an interfering bunch o people we can be...just let them be.
04.01pm - 28.02.2011 Mike Johnston - Alyth, Perth & Kinross Report This
SNH numbers are ludicrous, a dozen families across three generations does not equal twenty. Many consider trapping to be illegal and several challenges are to be undertaken. Leave this native population alone.
07.00pm - 16.03.2012 Gordon Cran - Ayrshire, Scotland Report This
The entire local ecosystem benefits from the beavers there's absolutley no need for them to be hunted.
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