f ever there were to be a beaver heaven on earth
I
it would have to be here, in the rugged forest
gorges of North Knapdale in the very centre of
Argyll. In this sublime setting there is everything
a beaver’s heart could desire. Swift-flowing burns
run sweet and clear from the mountainsides; birch
and rowan stand on tranquil loch shores, cheek by
leafy jowl with willow and alder. There are reeds by
the water’s edge and sedges and moss and lichen on
the rocks. Best of all, there’s peace and quiet. For
the 17 individuals in the three beaver families being
relocated here from Norway, this should be pretty
close to paradise, the perfect place to begin a new life
and a bold experiment.
The fact that this is remote Foresty Commission
land with few human settlements, is undoubtedly
one of its chief advantages. There will be no fences to
keep the beavers in, and nothing to stop the curious
from coming here either, but it’s hoped that a degree
of sensitivity will govern the behaviour of those who
do come. After all, it was through the unrelenting
hand of man that beavers were driven into extinction
in Scotland in the early seventeenth century. They
were hunted primarily for their fine, warm fur, so
much so, that in the 12
th
century an excise tax was
levied on the export of their pelts.
Monks ate their webbed hind feet and leathery
tails in the mistaken belief that they qualified as
fish and were therefore fit for their Friday supper. In
perhaps the saddest indictment of man’s stupidity
toward the beaver, the harmless herbivores were
literally hounded to death for the contents of their
anal gland. The pungent, concentrated secretion of
salicylic acid known as castoreum is used by beavers
to scent-mark their territories. It also has some
medicinal qualities including the relief of pain. So
widespread was the slaughter of the European beaver,
that by the beginning of the 20
th
century the total
population throughout its entire range was reported
to be just 1200 individuals. It is therefore, with a
heavy sense of moral obligation that so much human
effort is now going into the beaver’s re-establishment.
Scotland is among the last countries in Europe to
take up that particular challenge.
Simon Jones, of the Scottish Wildlife Trust has,
rust
with colleagues from the Royal Zoological Society
of Scotland, had the exhausting, but ultimately very
rewarding task, of steering the beaver debate toward
its successful conclusion. “The Beaver has been used
Scottish Wildlife T
as a bit of a political football in Scotland,” he said.
“It’s an issue that came to symbolise the great public
divide over who owns the Scottish countryside and
how it should be used. On the one hand we’ve had
those who were vehemently opposed from day one.
Loch Collie Bharr, Argyll, new home for Scotland’s beavers
Many of the traditional stakeholders from the old
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