Searching for Beaver

(Highlands of Scotland) Television comedy and nature writers could possibly use this report for source material.

Three beavers have gone missing in the Highlands after ditching their identity tags and escaping from a £1.8 million Government research programme.

The trio, Marlene, Mary-Lou and Gunn Rita, have been roaming free since May 2009, when they were released in the wild as part of a reintroduction scheme.

Although each animal was tagged before being freed in the ancient Knapdale Forest in Argyll and Bute, the first annual report on the programme notes that “most tags attached to beaver tails were lost within two to three months post-release”.

Of 15 beavers involved in the Scottish Beaver Trial, researchers have tracked down nine, with three reported dead and three missing.

New tags were fitted to some specimens in December 2009, and field workers are currently assessing a bid to fix tags to the beavers’ fur using epoxy glue.

Despite the disappearance of three female test subjects, however, the report shows encouraging signs for the first part of the five-year trial.

Marlene, the youngest beaver, was seen fighting before she disappeared.