Wildlife charities have called on the First Minister to act to give beavers in Scotland legal protected status and prevent unregulated culling.

Organisations including the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Scottish Beaver Trial, National Trust for Scotland and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland signed an open letter to Nicola Sturgeon urging action.

Beavers were spotted in Tayside in 2006 due to unauthorised releases, four centuries after they were hunted to extinction across Scotland.

The letter states: “The clock has run out on the statement, made by the Scottish Government on 20 December 2017, that legislation to make beavers a protected species in Scotland would be laid before Parliament in the first half of 2018.

“We are calling on the First Minister to renew her government’s leadership and commit to bringing home a former resident.

Hmmm the clock is ticking, but why bring God into it anyway?

“Pioneering work including the Scottish Beaver Trial and the experience of reintroductions in more than 20 European countries shows beavers have the potential to bring enormous positive change.

“They breathe new life into our landscape by creating dynamic woodland and wetland habitats, and they help to control flooding by slowing down upland streams.

Take care of the beavers, and the beavers will take care of YOU. I think I saw that message before. Where was it again?

Oh right, on a tile drawn by a child in Martinez! More folks are speaking up for the beaver than ever before it seems like. This was printed yesterday in a Massachusetts paper.

Letter: Beavers should not be killed

Nothing like the “Beavis and Butt-Head” approach to dealing with a short-term problem, “Ah, let’s just kill them.” And, guess what – it won’t work. Beavers will be back and they have a right to be here. There is something very dumb about extermination, because more often than not, it leads to other problems. Just ask the farmers in western states suffering from years of diminished rainfall and terrible drought what they are thinking about these water savers and how they will be integrating beavers into their landscapes.

We have the best universities in the nation with great ecology and biology departments within 100 miles of Framingham, not to mention Framingham State. You probably could get some great high school teachers who could deal with ecology, satisfying both the flooding problem and the beavers’ habitat without murdering these animals because they are an inconvenience. What a fantastic class project!

Let me ask you; if a fire hydrant ruptured, spilled water onto a roadway that caused “black ice” would you arrest the fire department because they failed to maintain it properly? Are we not humans with superior intellects? How about we act like humans and think (not too hard since there are already experts in Mass. who know how to deal wh beaver side effects) without thoughtless harm to other living creatures?

Peter Noel

Ahh Peter, very well said, but the situation in Framingham is even more STUPID than that. Massachusetts boasts the smartest and most famous beaver problem-solver in the country – if not the world. He happens to live 3 hours away and could have solved your problem with a phone call.

You decided to do this the hard way. I was in the hospital during your trial so I couldn’t help point out how stupid you were being. But there are a lot of smart people in your state you decided not to listen to.

Good luck with that. I’m sure we’ll talk next year.