A truly horrible story from Scotland broke yesterday. Apparently Scottish farmers are worried that a decision to protect the beavers will come any minute and have decided to respond by killing as many as they can in the meantime.

Farmers “rush to shoot beavers” before they are granted protected status

FARMERS are rushing to shoot as many beavers as possible before a new protection order comes into place, it has been claimed. The Scottish government has been considering granting protected status to beavers since 2015 – but there are currently still no laws governing when or where they can be shot.

On February 12 this year, an email to government officials stated that farmers in the Strathmore and Forfar areas of Angus were killing beavers ahead of the proposed new protective legislation

The email read: “It was clear from discussions that farmers and gamekeepers are shooting as many beavers as possible just now before they become protected. I suspect they will be just shooting them in the water, which might result in injuries rather than death much of the time.

“Like seals that are shot in the water no doubt they will just float off downstream or die in their lodge.”

Scotland has let itself get in a pickle with these beavers. They must have just woken up and found them because 150+ beavers do not suddenly appear overnight. Our good friend Paul Ramsay is still working hard to for their safety and is pushing the government to make the right decision. Or at least ANY decision, because the ambiguity is starting to mount up.

Paul Ramsay from the The Scottish Wild Beaver Group said: “This callous approach has already hardened the differences of attitude between conservationists and these farmers in ways that will be hard to undo. An urgent response is needed by the Scottish government to protect these much-loved and beneficial animals and to provide farmers with an incentive to look for a better response to the situation.”

I made that sentence bold because it struck me as particularly artful  in a way that I have come to expect from the Ramsays on this campaign. I’m sure he means it will be every bit as hard to soften the conservationists heart as it will be to reform the farmers. Which is probably true and worth mentioning. I found this final sentence particularly stunning.

Possessing and moving a dead beaver is illegal without a licence in the UK, however, a licence is not required to shoot them.