So this morning’s great escape story comes from Scotland where they’ve decided to round up and trap all the escapee beavers from that have broken loose from private farms over the years and bring them to zoos. They are calling them “feral beavers” to make them seem looming and dangerous and to ward off the inevitable wave of public opinion that’s likely to come their way.
Note that the BBC story says ’20 feral beavers’ have escaped over the years whereas the Guardian reports that there are more than 50 at large! (Why stop at 50? If we’re going to speculate wildly lets say a 100. How about a million?)
Some wildlife experts believe that more than 50 beavers could be roaming free: families of beavers, and evidence of their lodge building, have been regularly seen by villagers and naturalists around Invergowrie on the outskirts of Dundee, Forfar in Angus, Glamis in Perthshire, and Tentsmuir near the mouth of the river Tay.
Would a beaver without a family build a lodge? Yes. A single disperser hoping to attract a mate would build a lodge near a great food source and hope to get lucky. He or she would hope a LONG time. The fact remains that these beavers, all by themselves in a country where there ARE NO BEAVERS, are highly unlikely to find a mate and reproduce. Stop me if I’m going to fast for you. The will very likely wander the countryside, encounter zero beavers for their troubles, be unable to survive on their own, and die.
Ahh, but I can hear the fevered Scottish scientists now saying yes but what if a pregnant beaver escapes! Then introduces her feral brood into the countryside? Just so you know, pregnant beavers are very very very unlikely to roam. They have a family to think of and would rather stay where they are. Your ‘escapees’ are probably yearlings who took great pains to ‘disperse’. They have not bred and don’t have mates and aren’t likely to find one in your country. What if a male-female pair of disperers escape together? the ‘bonnie & clyde’ of beavers? I suppose its possible. Did anyone ever report losing two beavers at once?
Could they mate with something else? hedgehogs? wild dogs? members of the monarchy? No. Just calm down and realize that beavers without other beavers will live out some portion of their lives, eat a few trees, and die.
Sir John Lister-Kaye, a former president of the Scottish Wildlife Trust who keeps beavers at his Aigas wildlife sanctuary near Inverness, said the animals were once native to the UK and should be given protection under European conservation directives if they were breeding successfully.
“I think this is quite simply professional jealousy. Scottish Natural Heritage and the zoo have been quite hostile to those of us who have private collections or who know quite a lot about beavers,” he said. “I think the public needs to be in on this debate; they’ve voted 59% in favour of the beaver.”
Well, good luck trapping these 20 or 50 beavers and transferring them all safely to the zoo. i can’t imagine you have room for that many beavers in your zoo but I’m sure you’re counting on the fact that a) many will not survive and b) that there aren’t really that many to begin with. Ooh look the story gets better!
SNH said the trapping operation, which is being supported by Tayside police, was a matter of urgency because beavers were spreading so rapidly. A spokesman said: “The longer we leave it the greater the task will be. We are also urging all owners of animal collections to take greater care in keeping their animals captive.”
Spreading so rapidly? When the female enters estrus once a YEAR for 12 hours? And there are no males to breed with anyway? Is there a secret beaver fertility clinic in Scotland that we don’t know about? Well good thinking to involve the police. I’m sure that will go over well with the locals.
I wrote the Scottish National Heritage in Tayside and explained the risks of live trapping and put them in touch with Sherri Tippie. I can’t imagine they’re over worried about being careful with the animals, they certainly aren’t worried about bad press.
I’ was still working on the term ‘feral’ when Cheryl sent this lovely video. Wait until the end when the beavers make a decision what to do with the infrared camera in their lodge. I knew it!
