Throughout history, beavers have been hunted to extinction from most of their for their meat, fur, and castoreum.
Beavers lived across most of Europe and northern Asia. They inhabited semi arid areas in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, from which they have now been extirpated: fossil evidence has been found in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
Holocene Epoch
By the twelfth century their range had been substantially reduced and by the sixteenth century they were almost extinct.
Europe
Gerald of Wales recorded the last evidence of beavers in Wales.
Wales
Radio-carbon dating of a beaver-gnawed stick demonstrates that they remained in the river Tyne in Northumberland until the 1300s.
England
One of the last Scottish records tells of them around Loch Ness in the 1500s.
Scotland
However, intriguing evidence suggests that beavers may have lingered in small, isolated populations until much later. In Wales a 14th century Welsh poem and in England a sixteenth century English bounty specifically listed beavers, while as late as 1789 payments were still being made for their heads in Yorkshire. It is suggested that this record in Yorkshire may have been the last record of beavers in Britain.
By the early 20th century they remained in only 8 relict populations totalling just 1200 individuals. These populations were located in the Dnieper river system in Belarus and Ukraine; the lower Rhone river in France; the Elbe river in Germany; the Urungu river in Mongolia and China; the Telemark region of Norway; and three regions of Russia.
Europe
Reintroduction of the species began in the early 20th century with Sweden reintroducing about 80 beavers to 19 different sites in the 1920's. Other European countries began to follow suit. The USSR started reintroducing them in the 1930's, Germany and Norway in the 1960's, Austria in 1970's. 24 countries are thought to have reintroduced the Eurasian beaver before England, Scotland or Wales did.
Europe
After early demonstration projects in the East and North of Scotland in 2009 The Scottish Government launched the Scottish Beaver Trial in Knapdale on the West Coast of Scotland. A 5 year trial to monitor the effects of beavers and 15 beavers were released into the area.
Scotland
A population of beavers, of unknown origin, had been present on the River Otter since around 2008. However, when video evidence emerged proving that the beavers had given birth to kits (young) in 2014, the UK Government initially planned to have them removed from the river. A number of organisations opposed their removal and after consulting with the local community, landowners and public bodies, an alternative was presented: to turn the situation into a five-year trial to monitor the beavers’ effects on the landscape.
England
Following the publication of the 'Beavers in Scotland' report in 2015 after the completion of the Scottish Beaver Trial The Scottish Government announced that the wild-living populations in Knapdale and Tayside would be allowed to remain, work was underway to recognise beavers as a European Protected Species in Scotland but the population would only be allowed to expand naturally.
Scotland
Scotland's beavers are added to the European Protected Species List and a management framework is introduced for land owners or managers to follow to obtain a licence to resolve conflicts with beavers.
Scotland
The Scottish Government announces it will actively support the expansion of the beaver population by promoting translocation to move beavers into new suitable areas.
Scotland
Beaver Trust facilitates the first translocation of beavers to Argaty Red Kites. The first translocation within Scotland not to the Scottish Beaver Trial.
Scotland
England's beavers are added to the European Protected Species List and a management framework is introduced for land owners or managers to follow to obtain a licence to resolve conflicts with beavers.
England
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