A record number of beavers will be released into sites in England and Wales by wildlife trusts this year – 20 years after the semi-aquatic mammal first made a comeback.
Around 20 beavers will be reintroduced to five more counties in 2021, with the first of the releases taking place this week in Dorset when a male and female were let into an enclosed wetland, the Wildlife Trusts coalition of groups said.
Beavers were once native to Britain but were hunted to extinction in the 16th century for their fur, meat and scent glands, leading to the loss of the wetland habitat of lakes, mires and boggy places they were key to creating.