Beavers are a large rodents which dam rivers and create a wetland environment to live in (Gurnell et al.

2009, p.1). They were once native to Britain but were hunted to extinction probably in the 16 th century
due to the worth of various beaver products including their fur, meat and for castoreum (from their
scent glands) which contains a major compound found in modern aspirin (Jones et al. 2012), and used as
a medicine at the time.

Although beavers were once a native species there is no legal obligation to reintroduce them into the
wild, and to do so public consent is considered necessary (Rees 2001). However beavers have been
reintroduced in various places across Europe greatly successfully, leading to a large wild population in
the rest of Europe (Macdonald, Burnham 2007).

Beavers are seen to have a positive effect in many ways, the change of habitat that they instigate
leading to increased diversity in wildlife and a reduction in canopy density, allowing more sunlight to
reach the ground (Gurnell et al. 2009, p.35), benefiting many species.

Reintroduced beavers will not only have environmental advantages but also the possibility of economic
advantages, through ecotourism (Kemp et al. 2010), and the current reintroduction has had a large
interest from the local community with people visiting to try to see the beavers (Devon Wildlife Trust –
Beavers 2015).

In this report we model the beaver population prior to their extinction, and determine how much
hunting there must have been to drive them to extinction. We then model the population following
their reintroduction into the River Otter, with a model which works well on a short time scale, which
reflects the fact that the current trial will be evaluated after a 5 year period (Natural England, 2015).
Then we consider the pollutants in the river without beavers and go on to determine what effect the
beavers have on pollutant levels, this time presuming there is a fully established beaver population.
References
Jones, A.C.L., Halley, D.J., Gow, D., Branscombe, J., Aykroyd. T. 2012. Welsh Beaver Assessment Initiative
Report: An investigation into the feasibility of reintroducing European Beaver (Castor fiber) to Wales.
Wildlife Trusts Wales, UK.

Kemp, P.S., Worthington, T.A. & Langford, T.E.L. 2010. A critical review of the effects
of beavers upon fish and fish stocks. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report
No. 349 (iBids No. 8770).

Macdonald, D & Burnham, D 2007. The State of Britain's Mammals 2007. People' Trust for Endangered
Species/ Mammals Trust UK p.12

Gurnell, J, Gurnell, A.M., D. Demeritt, Lurz, P.W.W., Shirley, M.D.F., Rushton, S.P., Faulkes,C.G., Nobert,
S., & Hare, E.J. 2009.The feasibility and acceptability of reintroducing the European beaver to England.
England: People's Trust for Endangered Species and Natural England (NECR002) p.1 & 35

Natural England, 2015, LICENCE - Release of non-native species and those listed under Schedule 9 Wildlife
and Countryside Act 1981, Natural England Ref: 2014-4744-SPM-NNR

Rees, P.A 2001. Is there a legal obligation to reintroduce animal species into their former habitats? Oryx
35(2) p. 216-223

Devon Wildlife Trust – Beavers. 2015 Vimeo video [Online] Vimeo: seenit https://vimeo.com/133285004
[Accessed 17th April 2017]