r/Beavers

>An unexpected population of wild beavers has been found.

>Nature recovery programme Cumbria Connect said it could confirm rumours of the animals being spotted in and around the River Lowther in Eden - the first wild population of the semi-aquatic rodent in the county.

>Natural England said they were a protected wild population under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations, meaning it was illegal to capture, harm, or disturb them.

>Cumbria Connect said it was not involved in the release of the animals and suspected their release was illegal - which it did not "support".

>Programme manager Martin Varley said: "We now need to focus on how we manage this situation responsibly and collaboratively.

>"We do not support illegal wildlife releases and believes species recovery must take place through responsible, licensed and transparent processes."

>The programme said it had already been aware of the population, but did not publicise its presence to reduce the risk of the beavers being disturbed by the public.

>However, tracks left behind by the animals and an increased number of sightings had made it "appropriate" to confirm their existence.

>Beavers are native to Britain but were wiped out in the 16th Century, mainly due to hunting, according to the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

>They first returned to the UK in the early 2000s, but were only allowed to be kept in enclosed spaces in England until last year - when beavers were first released into the wild again.

I used to take long walks along the Little Miami River here in Ohio and would notice in late summer or early fall, a small bare patch in a field by the river where part of the crop was gone having been cut a few inches from the soil. Walking north with the river to my left, 30 or 40 feet away, the field to my right was about the same distance, I saw this several years in a row and would wonder what was going

Soybean stalks or corn stalks littering the trail depending on what was planted in spring and an area about the size of 10 parking spaces when corn or larger if soybeans were planted was gone.  

The trail of stalks vanished at the river. I imagined someone in a canoe coming in the dark of night to gather corn or soybean…. but why? Who would do that? It seemed like more trouble than it would be worth.

By the 4th or 5th year of seeing this I had had enough and needed to look closer. I knew how the stalks had been cut and noticed a there was path leading down the bank to the river where tree roots were exposed. They were cut in the same manner that the stalks had been.

Then, it dawned on me.

Beavers, a family of beavers, putting food away for winter. Teeth that take down the mightiest trees also harvest corn and soybeans. Beavers are, avid crop rustlers.