Have you been reading about the London beavers? Every day they are making headlines in the UK and now their on our Weather Channel.

400 years after extinction, beavers return to major city to combat flood concerns

Despite the cheeky names — Sigourney Beaver and Justin Beaver — given to the two beavers released, officials have high hopes for the rodent pair. Could they be the answer to battle life-threatening flash floods?

Beavers haven’t roamed the streams and woods of London since the days of William Shakespeare. But after over 400 years of extinction, the rodents are being reintroduced to the United Kingdom capital in a “quite emotional” moment.

A pair of beavers, temporarily named Justin Beaver and Sigourney Beaver, were released into a designed enclosure on Forty Hall Farm in Enfield on March 17. The beavers are part of a two-year plan by Enfield Council to combat the increase in major flash floods that have plagued the city in recent years.

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Well even the English are driven to name beavers stupidly. That’s almost a relief. But at least we get good news coverage.

“There is now a real risk of people drowning, particularly in basement flats if a major flash flood occurred in the middle of the night,” he told the Observer. “The problem is particularly worrying because we have no idea how many people live in basement properties in London.”

In a city analysis from July 2021, a report from the London Councils taskforce found that the city was dealt more than a month’s average rain on several different days. The month’s enormous rainfall triggered the closures of major hospitals and underground train stations and caused flooding in over 1,000 homes.

The hope for the introduction of the beavers is that the natural engineers will build dams and restore habitats that help slow down and filter water in the city’s wetlands. By cutting down trees and attracting other forms of wildlife, officials hope the restoration efforts lead to reduced downstream flooding.

“They’re not just beautiful creatures, they’re so good in the ecosystem, they encourage other animals and insects because of the ponds and dams they make,” Ian Barnes, Enfield Council’s deputy leader, told The Guardian.

You hear that? Beavers aren’t just another pretty face.Hmm. I rarely read about anyone calling beavers beautiful. Besides me, I mean. Their eyes are too small, their faces too rodenty for human beauty standards. But I guess when you don’t have many wild animals to compare them too and you haven’t seen them in 400 years, they look beautiful to you.