The arrival of beavers in Norfolk (‘No one knows where it came from’: first wild beaver spotted in Norfolk in 500 years, 7 December), and Richard Foster’s sightings of beavers in Berkshire (Letters, 11 December), do not come as a surprise. It is part of so-called “beaver bombing” across Europe over the last 25 years, a form of civil disobedience whereby people, frustrated at what they see as expensive, obstructive bureaucracy around species reintroduction, take matters into their own hands and release animals without engaging with conservation bodies.
This bureaucracy can be alternatively framed as necessary ecological safeguards. Curiously, beavers popping up in Britain, Spain, Belgium, Italy and elsewhere can all be genetically linked to the Bavarian population. We have good evidence that pine martens, polecats, wildcats and various amphibian and butterfly species have been released across the UK without engagement with the relevant authorities.
While such releases require licences in Scotland, only a few species, including beavers, require permits for a wild release in other UK nations. However, such releases are controversial within conservation. While some see them as a straightforward process to restore a missing piece of our biodiversity, without wasting time and money on applying for permits, there is concern that they can be a vector for introducing diseases, and that they might disrupt local ecologies.
In some instances, there is debate about whether the introduced species was ever native to that place. Beaver bombing and other illicit releases need to be included in our conversations about what species belong in the UK, and who gets to decide this.
Prof George Holmes and Gabriel Rowland
School of earth and environment, University of Leeds
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