I tend to be a glass-half-full kind of girl. And who can blame me? I’ve always been comforted by air bubbles underwater. Hear me out. It strikes me as kind of advice from the universe that says “when things look bleak, and you’re completely turned around, follow the bubble UPWARDS. Not Downwards. That little ball of floating oxygen will tell you exactly the direction you need to go to find the surface and fill your lungs with sweet air. Follow it closely and do what it does.
So remember to keep the glass half full when you see this headline,
England’s beavers move from ‘extinct’ to ‘critically endangered’
The reintroduction of beavers to parts of England has led to the species being formally recognised as ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, where previously they had been classified as extinct.
Well sure, it’s no heartfelt wedding vows or national anthem. But we’ll take it. I’d rather be endangered than extinct, wouldn’t you? In these dark days we have to take our good news where we find it.
Following research commissioned by wildlife regulators Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) last week accepted the presence of beavers in Britain.
According to the study’s lead, professor of environmental biology at Sussex University Fiona Mathews, shifting the IUCN’s status has been “highly controversial”.
“There are lots of people who would rather not see them have any sort of listing, because once you start recognising that something is threatened, then there is an obligation to actually start doing something about that,” said Mathews.
The new status puts an onus on the international community to see these species restored, according to Mathews. In England and Scotland, introduced beaver populations are doing well, but remain small and very fragmented.
Isn’t that great news? Sing it with me now. “
I once was lost, but now am found. Was extinct, but now I’m threatened!“
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