CONSERVATIONISTS are furious after it was revealed that 115 of Scotland’s protected wild beavers were shot under government licence in 2020.
Conservation charity Trees for Life called the figure “a waste of life and opportunity when nature is in crisis”, and the Scottish Wild Beaver Group charity said it was “ecologically incoherent and environmentally irresponsible” to allow the shootings.
The animals were killed by farmers and estate owners because they were causing flooding problems by building dams in burns and ditches.
The cull figure for 2020 is 28 more than the year before, at a time when conservation groups are lobbying for an end to the routine shooting of the animals under the “licence to kill” system run by Government wildlife agency NatureScot. In addition to the shootings, 31 beavers were trapped and moved to enclosed reintroduction projects in England. 56 beaver dams were removed. Most of Scotland’s wild beavers live around the Tay and Forth river catchments.
The conservationists say problem beavers should almost always be trapped and relocated to more suitable areas to spread the benefits they bring in slowing down floodwater and boosting wildlife – the reason they were given protected status in May 2019 – and want to see the Scottish Government ban on translocation to new areas in Scotland lifted.
But NatureScot, which issued the figures, says its policy is a “conservation success” because a new survey showed beaver numbers in Scotland have more doubled over the past three years to nearly one thousand, and the increase in shootings and other measures to control them reflects this growth.
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In response to the figures, Alan McDonnell, Trees for Life’s conservation manager, said: “It is chilling to see this described as a ‘conservation success’ by NatureScot when beaver numbers have increased despite the continuing failure to make the killing of this protected species a genuine last resort when management is needed.”
He accused NatureScot of sitting on the cull number until it could hide it behind the increase in numbers, and said: “This is such a waste of life and opportunity when nature is in crisis.”
Trees for Life is currently awaiting a judgement on a court case it took against NatureScot over the shooting policy. It claimed NatureScot should only issue shooting licences as a last resort to deal with beavers and is breaking the law with its current policy.
McDonnell added: “The sad truth is NatureScot did not know the latest beaver population figures when it began issuing lethal control licenses, with no limits on the number of beavers that could be shot. We believe the agency’s approach bends the law well beyond its limits.”
Sarah Robinson, director of conservation for the Scottish Wildlife Trust said: “It’s positive to see beavers are extending their territory into new areas but there are clear barriers to their expansion north, particularly hydroelectric dams. Allowing beavers to be released into suitable areas of Scotland beyond their current range would help to overcome these obstacles. Effective management is vital to ensure that beavers are accepted as part of our native wildlife. We are concerned however that lethal control is being carried out routinely, rather than as a true last resort. We would like to see greater support for non-lethal measures.”
She added: “More than two years after beavers were granted European Protected Species status we are still waiting to see a forward-looking national strategy for the species.
“Helping land managers to live alongside beavers and allowing the species to spread into new areas of Scotland, where they can create new wildlife-rich habitats, should be a priority for the Scottish Government as it seeks to tackle the urgent crisis facing nature.”
Beaver Group charity said: “With the severity of the climate crisis increasingly evident, it’s both ecologically incoherent and environmentally irresponsible that Scottish Ministers have permitted the killing of 115 beavers – the one species that can have a positive impact on catchment-scale flooding, drought mitigation, and water quality, as well as bringing a huge biodiversity boost.
“Instead of renewing lethal control licenses at the behest of a tiny group of subsidised land owners, the government should be funding the translocation of this critically important species to suitable areas throughout Scotland.”
Robbie Kernahan, NatureScot’s Director of Sustainable Growth, said despite their benefits beavers can cause problems for farmers and infrastructure: “This is reflected in the number of cases where mitigation measures were needed, such as fencing and flow devices or dam removal, as well as in the number of beavers which had to be trapped and moved or controlled under licence this past year,” he said.
Most of Scotland’s wild beavers are descended from those illegally released on the Tay around 20 years ago. Last year NatureScot said 87 of the animals, thought then to be about a fifth of the total Scottish population, had been shot in 2019.
A survey in 2017 showed Scotland had around 450 wild beavers. A handful live in Argyll around an official beaver trial site set up in 2009.
NatureScot said its new survey carried out last winter showed the total number of beavers in Scotland is now around 1000.
That population now ranges from Glen Isla to Dundee and Stirling, and from Forfar to Crianlarich. At least one beaver has been seen in Loch Lomond in the past 18 months.
Kernahan added: “Wildlife is declining in Scotland so this extensive survey, which reveals an increasing beaver population, is great news for nature in Scotland. Beavers play a vital role in creating and restoring wetlands where other species can thrive, reducing downstream flooding and improving water quality.”
National Farmers’ Union Scotland president Martin Kennedy said the population figure provided “unequivocal evidence of a conservation and reintroduction success story” and vindicates NatureScot’s approach, but he added: “It is vitally important that where mitigation measures are not working, and significant agricultural damage continues to occur, that licensed lethal control remains as a last resort.”
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