Scotland

In Scotland, beavers are protected by law as a European Protected Species. This protection came into force on 1st May 2019 with the view from the Scottish Government that the species should be allowed to expand its range naturally

In some places and situations the activities of beavers can have negative impacts on other interests such as farms, gardens or other land. Sometimes this can be easily managed to prevent damage such as by fencing vulnerable areas or protecting individual trees. In other situations there is the potential for more novel techniques.

NatureScot provides free and expert advice to help people experiencing problems and where possible provides these measures to minimise damage through the beaver mitigation scheme.

However, NatureScot also accepts that in some cases such measures are unlikely to be effective or appropriate and the beavers themselves will need to be managed, including by lethal control. Where this occurs NatureScot works to make sure that any action will help resolve the problems being experienced, whilst at the same time taking into account welfare concerns and without preventing the overall aim of expansion of the existing beaver populations in Scotland.