Starting high in the Black Forest of Germany, the Danube is the longest river in the European Union and makes its way through nine countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine) before emptying into the Black Sea. Just before it filters into salt water it branches out into a expansive delta, where they are happily seeing beavers for the first time in 200 years.
Busy as a beaver: Monitoring beavers in the Danube Delta
Back in June 2014, the first video footage from a camera trap confirmed that beavers are again breeding in the Danube Delta after an absence of almost 200 years. The beaver had disappeared during the early nineteenth century from most of Europe. In Romania, the Forestry Research Institute (ICAS Braşov) initiated a first reintroduction project in 1998 on the rivers Olt, Mureş and Ialomiţa. Once a population was established there, beavers then started to migrate without any human intervention and in 2010 there began their presence in the upper parts of the delta. Now, four years later, in June 2014, we recorded their activity in the Somova-Parcheș area.
Later footage confirmed that the beavers’ comeback to the Danube Delta is now a fact. The local institutions and NGOs, like the Danube Delta Reserve Authority and the Forestry Research Institute, WWF Romania and Rewilding Europe have worked together observing their activities since late 2011. The beaver, strictly protected in Romania, is now in great need of a conservation plan.
“We are proud to work with eight interns who are travelling by canoe in the middle of the night or day, facing the harsh winds, but also see and hear the beavers’ fascinating activities in the area. And not only! We will soon show you also who else is inhabiting the wetland areas around their lodge”, says Alexandra Panait, team leader of the Danube Delta rewilding team.
You can see below some of their latest findings:
Well, maybe you have to go all the way to Romania to find them, but at least someone is excited about beavers! Hurray for the intrepid interns canoeing off in frigid or wet conditions to study beavers! We are so lucky here in Martinez that we barely have to get out of the warm car to see the family. Still, even in the lap of luxury, it takes a kind of in intrepid spirit to leave your winter living room after dark and bundle up to go see beavers who may or may not want to see you. Trust me.
