Wild beaver gives birth in England

By Claire Marshall

BBC environment correspondent

24 June 2015 

Media captionFootage by local filmmaker Tom Buckley provide the first evidence of the new arrivals.

A female from the first wild beaver colony in England for centuries has given birth to at least two young.

New footage shows the kits being helped through the water by their mother.

The images taken in Devon by local filmmaker Tom Buckley provide the first evidence of the new arrivals.

The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) said the slowly expanding population would help to provide an insight into their effect on the surrounding River Otter system in east Devon.

The Angling Trust warned that a population increase could have detrimental effects on other wildlife.

Mark Elliott, from the DWT, said: "We are thrilled that the beavers have bred. The baby kits appear fit and healthy … This tells us that the beavers are very much at home in this corner of Devon."

The two females were found to be pregnant when they were taken in to captivity to be tested for disease. It's not thought that the other female has yet had her kits.

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River Otter beavers 'native to UK', tests find

9 March 2015 Last updated at 16:37

Wild beavers found living on the River Otter in Devon are a species which was once native to the UK, tests have confirmed.

A breeding family was first spotted last year, although it is not known how they came to be there.

DNA results have shown the beavers are Eurasian rather than North American.

Devon Wildlife Trust said the confirmation moved them a step closer to releasing the animals, currently being kept in an artificial lodge.

Natural England has given the green light to a five-year trial to monitor and manage the impact of beavers on the river.

Earlier in March, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed the beavers were free of tapeworm.

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Beavers on verge of living wild in England after being confirmed free of disease

First beaver colony to live free in England for centuries should be able to stay on Devon’s River Otter after being tested as clear of Echinococcus multilocularis

Steven Morris

Wednesday 11 March 2015 13.02 GMTLast modified on Thursday 12 March 201500.06 GMT

The future is looking bright for a colony of beavers that have been living free on an English river after they were trapped, tested and found to be free of a disease not currently found in the UK.

Five beavers – two adult pairs and one youngster, a kit – have been captured at the behest of the government and found to be fit and healthy.

The beavers, the first to live free in England in centuries after they were hunted to extinction, have been handed over to the Devon Wildlife Trust, which plans to return them soon to the River Otter. It is awaiting results of tests for a range of other other diseases before re-releasing them.

Devon’s beavers threatened to become another wildlife embarrassment for the coalition, which has come under heavy fire over the hugely controversial badger cull.

Initially the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra), said the beavers would have to be trapped and kept in captivity because they could be infected with the disease Echinococcus multilocularis (EM), which can be harmful to humans. An outcry followed with many environmentalists and local people calling for the creatures to be left in peace.

Read on ...

Legal fight begins to save family of beavers in Devon

24 October 2014 Last updated at 10:48

Campaigners have begun legal action to prevent the government from capturing a family of wild beavers in Devon.

Friends of the Earth said because groups already live in the wild in Scotland, the beavers are protected in England under EU laws.

The River Otter beavers are believed to be the only wild ones living in England.

The government said they could be carrying disease and wants to test and re-home them in captivity.

The three beavers, thought to be two adults and a juvenile, were first reported to be living on the river in the summer of 2013 and no date has been set for trapping them.

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Trappers search for Washington state otter that attacked swimmers

By Victoria Cavaliere

(Reuters) - Wildlife trappers in Washington state searched on Friday for a river otter blamed for a rare attack on humans that sent a boy and his grandmother to the hospital, wildlife experts said.

The boy was swimming in the Pilchuck River in Snohomish County, about 36 miles (57 km) northeast of Seattle, when the otter repeatedly bit and scratched him, said Captain Alan Myers of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The boy's grandmother tried to intervene and the otter also attacked her, scratching and badly injuring her eye, he said.

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Beaver spotted in Devon's River Otter by dog walker

16 July 2013 Last updated at 16:19 BST

A woman claims she has seen a beaver living wild on the River Otter in Devon.

Hunted for their fur, the animals were wiped out in Britain hundreds of years ago.

Three beavers escaped from a farm at Lifton in 2009. Only two were recaptured and it is believed the one that remained at large was responsible for felling trees several miles away.

Lorna Douglas has filmed the beaver, which she says she has seen on several occasions while walking her dogs.

watch video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-23332669

Japan declares its river otter extinct

Japan's Ministry of the Environment today declared the Japanese river otter (Lutra lutra whiteleyi) extinct. Last seen in 1979 in the city of Susaki on the island of Shikoku, the unique subspecies was killed-off by overhunting and loss of habitat due to development.

The extinction of the Japanese river otter represents another loss in Japan's endemic mammal. Already the nation has seen the extinction two wolves, two bats, and a sea lion: the Honshu wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) and the Hokkaidō wolf (Canis lupus hattai); Sturdee's pipistrelle (Pipistrellus sturdeei) and the Okinawa flying fox (Pteropus loochoensis); and the Japanese sea lion (Zalophus californianus japonicus).

Up until the Twentieth Century, the Japanese river otter was common in rivers across the country, feeding on fish and shrimp. Several expeditions to discover the mammal were undertaken in the 1990s. Yoshihiko Machida, a researcher at Kochi University, told The Japan Daily Press that he believes the animal may still survive based on scat found in 1999.


Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0828-hance-japanese-river-otter.html#ixzz257N9sh00