Following the Scottish Government's announcement that a decision on the future of beavers in Scotland will be further delayed until later in the year, the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Chief Executive, Jonny Hughes, said:

“The Scottish Wildlife Trust has first hand experience of managing and monitoring beavers in Scotland since running the multi-award winning Scottish Beaver Trial with our partners the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. We know there are proven and well established techniques for reducing any local impacts beavers may have on farmland.

“Such techniques are successfully deployed in lower lying areas of Europe such as Bavaria where beavers number in the thousands, rather than the dozens we have in Scotland. We cannot understand why these management issues are considered so 'complex' by the Scottish Government. Over 20 other European countries have already welcomed beavers back as a native species and manage their impacts just fine.

“The Scottish Wildlife Trust stands ready to work constructively with the Scottish Government to ensure beavers and landowners can thrive happily alongside one another in the future.”