"Pembrokeshire"

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"It's not top of our priorities but we want to see what happens with the Scottish trial before we consider the matter," said Liz Halliwell, mammal ecologist for the Countryside Council of Wales, "It would not be sensible to launch into something ourselves without seeing what happens there."

European beaver had been hunted to extinction in the British Isles by the Middle Ages, for its highly prized almost-waterproof fur, called nutria as well as its meat.. But all European governments are now obliged to restore former native species displaced by human activity, and conservationists believe the return of the beaver is least likely to provoke objections or cause problems - unlike the wolf, lynx and brown bear.

The Red squirrel, capercaille as well as the red kite, have all been reintroduced to Scotland in recent years, but Wales ranks with Italy, Denmark, Croatia and Portugal as parts of Europe that have not yet brought back beavers. "It would be an act of atonement for centuries of persecution," said writer and beaver expert Lynn Hughes, who will be talking about his plans for beavers in Wales to members of the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust at Llandeilo on November 14.

Mr Hughes who has researched the animal since first encountering it during his army days in Germany said "there is the ideal place at the Wildlife Centre at Cilgerran, which is where the beavers were last sighted in Britain in 1188,", he carried on to say "I went to see them in Kent, where they are using them for habitat restoration to create a woodland out of an area that has become overgrown and would cost thousands of pounds to reclaim in any other way.

"Being vegetarian, they are no threat to fish or any other wildlife and the idea of them being large-scale fellers of timber is not true, although you would need to protect any specimen trees with chicken wire." The last record of beaver in Wales was made by Gerald of Wales at the end of the 12th Century, when he devoted a substantial section to the animal in his book A Journey Through Wales. The European beaver is larger and differs slightly from its American cousin, and had been largely hunted out in Europe to meet the fashion for beaver hats by the time North America was colonised. The animal was almost wiped out in North America, where pelts of beaver fur were used almost as currency by trappers and native Indians.

"We are a generation that has seen the folly of our ways, to some extent, and it's time to make good some of the damage we have done and start to repair the environment," said Mr Hughes. "The idea of using beavers as environmental a restoration tools is very sound, because the animals will do your work for you as well as add to the biodiversity and return a lovely, friendly animal to the environment of Wales," he said. It may be some time before beavers are seen again in Wales. The Scottish Parliament planned to re-introduce beaver into the Knapdale Forest in Argyll next spring, but has shelved the proposals after objections from influential landowners. Politicians are now talking of the need for a new report, even though what would be the first return of beaver to the wild in Britain has already been the subject of five years of research and consultation. The consultation showed that 86pc of Scots were in favour. "There is no need for another report because there have been 90 reintroductions in 20 different countries in the past 40 years," said research ecologist Duncan Halley.

Oct 31 2002
Steve DubÉ, The Western Mail

A developer has put up £120,000 in order to provide top class accommodation for the flying mammals. Around 40 pairs of rare bats have been living at the conference centre for many years including many greater horseshoes, which are one of the most endangered species of bat. Their new hibernaculum, which is where bats hibernate, will be a cave over a metre underground. It also includes a specially built chamber, which the bats will be able to enter through a chimney. It is hoped that their movements may be monitored by a computer in order to better understand why they breed there.

Visitors to the centre need not worry about accidentally bumping into the bats though, as they will be in a separate building, away from the main centre.

(Source: icwales)
27th February 2004

Written by: Steve Jones

Ref No: 1065

1st November, 2002
Western Telegraph News

Contributed by: Mark Childs

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