Unbe-beavable! Meet Steve, the great escape beaver

Steve didn't seem to want to stay in his enclosure at the National Trust's Wallington Estate

This is Steve, a beaver who was supposed to be living in an enclosure in Wallington, Northumberland with other members of his family.

But Steve was gnawing to get away, and was constantly trying to escape.

Over the course of a year the beaver broke free three times from the National Trust Estate, twice heading to a farm which had a "lovely fishing lake".

But now conservationists have come up with a new plan to help the itchy-footed rodent stay put in his forever home.

Because of his talent for getting away, he was nicknamed Steve by staff, after actor Steve McQueen from a famous film called The Great Escape.

After a while the staff started to wonder if the beaver just wanted to explore or if he was trying to get somewhere - but they now think he might have been looking for love.

A life partner was found for slippery Steve and so the pair were placed into an enclosure in Wales to "start a family".

Lead ranger Helen McDonald said: "He was driven to find a mate and clearly he wasn't going to find one in Northumberland."

Steve managed to get 12 miles away from his enclosure - before stopping off at a cafe!

Wild beavers became extinct in Britain because humans hunted them for their fur, meat and scent glands.

In March this year, beavers captured from Scotland were released into the wild in England for the first time.

John Holmes from Natural England said: "Beavers have been missing from our landscapes for over 400 years and their careful reintroduction represents a significant landmark for nature recovery in England."

From the early 2000s the animals had been kept in enclosures by private estates, charities and other organisations because it was against the law to release a beaver into the wild in England.

But this year the law changed to allow people who look after beavers to apply for a license to release them in "very limited circumstances".

Ranger Helen McDonald says Steve managed to escape after storms damaged the fencing on his enclosure

But Steve isn't the only restless beaver to have escaped.

A report from Natural England, published in 2021, said that at lease one beaver had escaped from almost half (44%) of the 31 enclosures - although in the majority of cases they have been recaptured.

Theses trees had been planted to stabilise the bank of the River Rede, were gnawed by Steve on one of his escapes and had to be cut down

Farmers are among the groups concerned about beavers being released into the wild as they "can flood and waterlog fields, feed on agricultural crops like maize, as well as damage and fell trees such as cricket bat willow", David Exwood from the National Union of Farmers explains.

But others, including many beaver groups, are frustrated that most beavers currently have to live in enclosures rather than live "free uncontained lives".

Many of England's Wildlife Trusts have campaigned for many years for a change in policy, arguing that beavers play a vital role in their natural environment by managing rivers and wetlands by cutting parts off trees and building dams.