They haven�t been around these parts since the days of Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox, when they were hunted to extinction.
They haven't been around these parts since the days of Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox, when they were hunted to extinction.
But today beavers from Norway will mark the return of their species to Scotland.
Environment minister Roseanna Cunningham will be on hand to wave the third of three families off into the wilds, or at least Knapdale Forest in Argyll, in an effort to reverse history.
By the eighteenth century they were close to extinction throughout Europe, but from the 1920s, successful re-introductions have taken place in 24 European countries.
Now it is Scotland's turn where they were hunted for their fur in the sixteenth century. Last May the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland were granted a licence by the Scottish Government to bring them back in what is the UK's first-ever formal wild mammal re-introduction programme.
Working with partners at Telemark University College in Norway, 17 beavers were caught for the Scottish Beaver Project. They were flown into Heathrow airport and put in quarantine in Devon.
Roseanna Cunningham said: "Welcoming beavers back to Scotland marks a historic day for conservation, and it is particularly apt they are returning in this, the year of Homecoming.
"These charismatic creatures are not only likely to create interest in Scotland from further afield, but crucially can play a key role in providing good habitat for a wide range of wetland species."
But their re-introduction has been much debated. Environmentalists and wildlife campaigners see beavers as a keystone species, helping other wildlife by improving habitats, building dams, creating ponds that attract other species such as frogs, toads, water voles, dragonflies, birds and fish.
They are even thought to improve water quality and manage local flooding. As a result some believe they could even cut water bills. Meanwhile a tourist spin-off is also expected.
But the project has opponents - landowners, some crofters and the angling fraternity. Earlier this week angling writer Gordon Mack's "Between the Lines" blog highlighted a new North American study, which pointed to the adverse impact of beavers on salmon and sea trout. The study examined the impact of beavers on Canada's Prince Edward Island since they were re-introduced in 1949. It said that if beavers were not removed or culled, the result would be the demise of salmon runs in at least three of the island's rivers, and fish populations placed in jeopardy' in a further seven.
But Allan Bantick, chairman of the Scottish Beaver Trial Partnership, said: "We are one step closer to rebuilding the natural biodiversity of Scotland. Beavers are a native species made extinct by man and we are hoping that our trial reintroduction is a step towards seeing this corrected.
"Beavers are a species worth having in any ecosystem as their presence is known to bring a vast number of benefits to other native Scottish wildlife as well as wetland and waterside habitats.
"Critics' worry that beavers might pose a risk to migratory fish numbers. This has not been found to be the case anywhere else in Europe."
Beavers factfile
2 families of beaver were imported from Norway by the Wildwood Trust with Kent Wildlife Trust to manage a wetland nature reserve in 2001.
4 Bavarian beavers were released into a fenced enclosure in the Martin Mere nature reserve in Lancashire.
6 European Beavers were released in 2005 into a fenced lakeside area in Gloucestershire.
17 individual beavers from Norway in total will be released in Argyll.
19 different sites in Sweden were selected for the re-introduction of 80 beavers between 1922 and 1939 after they were hunted to extinction by the end of the nineteenth century.
40 chromosomes in the DNA of the American beaver. 48 in the European beaver.
1824 beavers become extinct in Romania, re-introduction began in 1998.
