OTTERY Town Council has pledged its support for a family of beavers, whose future hangs in the balance, to be allowed to remain on the banks of the River Otter downstream.
At the full council meeting on Monday, September 1, there was a unanimous vote among town councillors for the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) to leave them be.
Last month, at a Devon Wildlife Trust organised events, there was massive local opposition against Defra's proposals to remove the beavers from the river banks so they can be tested for the unlikelihood that they are carrying disease.
Defra confirmed that the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency has been tasked to lay the traps, but refused to comment on when they might be laid or the process thereafter, for example how often the traps will be checked.
Ottery ward member, Councillor Roger Giles had requested that the council discussed and gave its backing to the beavers and proposed that the council ask East Devon MP Hugo Swire, to insist that DEFRA return the beavers to the river as soon as they have been tested.
Once native to the UK, beavers were hunted to extinction 500 years ago, and it is still unknown how they made their return to the wild on the banks of the river.
After they came to Defra's attention around seven months ago, the department announced its controversial decision in July to remove and rehome the beavers because of the risk of disease and the negative impact they could have on the landscape.
Defra officials confirmed there is a low chance the beavers may carry Echinococcus multilocularis disease and because the animals have not been established in Britain for so long, it was necessary to assess their impact.
But critics of the proposals believe that the suggestion of rounding up the beavers is an "overreaction", and the benefits they bring to the environment, far outweigh any negatives they may be culpable for.
