Despite acknowledging that they're not always "good neighbours", the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has become the latest organisation to add its voice to calls for wild beavers to be re-introduced to the country.
In a policy statement published today, NTS describes the Eurasian Beaver as a "a key element of our native fauna" and says its introduction will bring "many significant benefits to Scotland's countryside, in terms of restoring native ecosystems, contributing to biodiversity, enhancing natural wetland processes, and promoting tourism".
"The beaver is a crucial element in our countryside which plays an important role in the conservation of other wildlife," said NTS's Nature Advisor Lindsay Mackinlay. "Conservationists call it a keystone species because its presence has such a major impact on the natural environment and its wildlife. Scotland is currently much the poorer without it."
The NTS document also says the Trust supports the conservation of the existing beaver populations in Argyll and Tayside and backs a managed expansion of those populations into other areas. However, it also calls for a "national mitigation plan" which could include culling beavers should that be required.
The UK is currently one of only seven European countries with no officially-sanctioned wild beaver population.
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