Nature Scot (formerly SNH) recently released its Beaver Licensing Summary for 2019. This confirmed that 87 beavers, roughly one-fifth of Scotland’s entire population, were killed under licence last year despite being a protected species.  This level of lethal control is excessive and potentially threatens the ‘favourable conservation status’ and ‘genetic viability’ of the species in Scotland. It cannot be allowed to be repeated again.

Please help SWBG create a better future for Scotland’s beavers by asking the government to take the following steps:

• Lift the ban on translocating beavers from Tayside to suitable habitat outside the current range within Scotland.
• Suspend all lethal control licences until a census confirms the population is still in ‘favourable conservation status’.
• End the policy assumption that non-lethal mitigation is unsuitable for prime agricultural land.
• Permit the grant of lethal control licences only after all forms of non-lethal mitigation (including translocation) have been ruled out following a site inspection by a qualified officer.
• Review all licences annually to ensure the reasons for their issue remain valid and the conditions of each licence are being met.
• Design future farm subsidy payments to reward farmers for increased biodiversity created by beaver presence.

To find out more about why these changes are necessary read our statement in response to SNH’s recent publication.