Community consultation on Glen Affric beaver plan

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BeaverImage source, Getty Images

Communities in and around a Highland glen are being consulted on plans to reintroduce beavers to the area.

Up to six beavers could be relocated to Glen Affric from Tayside, with breeding pairs released around Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a'Mheadhain.

Beavers were driven to extinction in the north west Highlands 400 years ago.

Moray-based charity Trees for Life is carrying out a six-week consultation, external on behalf of four private landowners and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS).

The landowners and FLS all manage areas of land with habitat deemed suitable for beavers.

Glen Affric is near the village of Cannich, south of Inverness.

Beavers are a protected native species first reintroduced to Scotland in 2009.

But concerns have been raised by farmers in parts of Tayside about illegally released beavers damaging crops.

Trees for Life has been campaigning to have these beavers relocated rather than culled.

The results of the consultation will be submitted to the Scottish government's nature agency NatureScot in September as part of an application for a licence to release beavers.

Alan McDonnell, of Trees for Life, said: "Studies show that beavers can bring extensive environmental and economic benefits.

"At the same time, understanding the views of the local community - from other landowners to angling clubs - is a key step in deciding whether to go ahead with any proposed beaver release."

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Last November. the Scottish government made a commitment to "actively support" the expansion of Scotland's beaver population.

It said it would do this by moving animals from where they were deemed to be pests to "a more suitable location".

The pledge delivered on a commitment in the SNP's co-operation agreement with the Scottish Green Party.

It is estimated there are almost 1,000 beavers across 254 Scottish locations.

Most are thought to be in rivers and other watercourses that flow into the Forth and Tay rivers.

Beavers are a native species, but were hunted to extinction in the 16th Century.

Eurasian beavers taken from Norway were released at Knapdale in Argyll in 2009 in a licensed trial, but there have been illegal releases elsewhere in Scotland.

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