Claims that they have been “concealing” the whereabouts of a Tayside beaver have been rubbished by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS).
The Scottish Wild Beaver Group had previously claimed that the charity had failed to disclose to them the exact location of Erica, a beaver that was trapped on the River Ericht by Scottish Natural Heritage last year.
They had raised their concerns after apparently paying £80 to adopt the animal as a mascot for the Alyth Beaver Scout group, who wanted to visit Erica at her home.
But a spokeswoman from the RZSS said that, while someone had inquired about adopting the animal, there had never been any official confirmation.
She said, “Our adoption department has never had any contact from the Alyth Beaver Scout group.
“Our understanding is that a representative from the Scottish Wild Beaver Group made contact with our adoptions department without declaring themselves and asked one of the team to slot the name Eric (the beaver’s original name before it was found she was a female) onto paperwork accompanying a standard beaver adoption certificate.”
Following their inquiries into adopting Erica, the group had been told the animal may have become part of the Knapdale scheme, but three weeks after receiving that information, received news from the RZSS that they were housing the beaver and it was not on display.
As a result of the “disappointment” of Alyth Beaver Scouts that they would not be able to visit their new mascot, the spokeswoman offered them the opportunity to see some of the other animals in their collections.
“If they would like to get in touch, we would be happy to talk to them directly and would be delighted to organise a complementary trip for them to Edinburgh Zoo, or to the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, to visit our beavers on display there,” she added.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy Flickr user gainesp2003.