TWO beavers have died after being captured by trappers working for publicly funded wildlife agency Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) because they were living outside “permitted” areas.
One was mother of the four-month-old kit, which survived. Mother and baby were caught in the same trap. The other was not its father, but may have been an older sibling. The orphaned infant is now being cared for by animal welfare staff at the Scottish SPCA, and a campaign to trap more Beauly beavers, which SNH says were introduced to the area illegally, has been immediately suspended.
It is not known how the beavers died.
In a statement, SNH said the fatalities occurred “after screening by vets”.
The agency said: “Vets have established that the first animal was suffering from an eye deformity and a suspected infection. Work is under way to establish the cause of death of both animals.”
The now-orphaned kit will be re-released later at the site of Scotland’s official reintroduction project in the Knapdale Forest in Argyll.
It is thought that only a small number of beavers remain in the wild in the Beauly system, including another adult beaver and kit.
SNH said efforts to trap them will restart next year.
The official project to reintroduce Eurasian beavers to Knapdale Forest was begun under scientific monitoring in 2008.
Other beavers, thought to originate either from escapes or illegal releases from private collections, have been present in Tayside since at least 2006, and five years ago the Scottish government ruled they could stay and expand naturally.
It remains a criminal offence to release beavers without a licence and wild beaver populations on the Beauly river system are considered illegal by SNH.
SNH insisted that the tapping and screening techniques it employed had “been used safely in many previous cases, and were undertaken by highly qualified professionals”.
A spokesman added: “Experts in Scotland have previously been involved in more than 70 beaver screening events with only one fatality, a sub-adult captured during the Tayside Beaver Study.
“As part of any licensed reintroduction beavers are normally health-checked and screened for diseases
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