(Doune) As day falls in central Scotland, beavers appear in a pond, under the fascinated gaze of a group of tourists. Their enthusiasm is far from shared by everyone in the region, where these ingenious mammals have become a highly flammable subject.

Beavers, which had been extinct in Scotland for around 400 years due to hunting, were reintroduced in 2009. Ten years later, to the dismay of farmers and landowners, they became a protected species.

Tourist visits, organized to see the animals in their habitat, are very successful.

“We saw a lot of beavers today. […] I feel privileged,” rejoices Catriona Morrison, a 30-year-old Scottish specialist in the Gaelic language, after a “safari” at the Argaty farm, which in addition to protecting red squirrels has been welcoming beavers since the end of 2021.  

The mammals were relocated there after causing serious damage to agricultural land a few dozen kilometers away.

Argaty’s owner Lynn Bower is ecstatic: the farm road “no longer floods in the winter thanks to the dams the beavers built.” They’ve also expanded the wetlands, and dragonflies, frogs and bats have appeared.

There were almost a thousand beavers in Scotland in 2020/21, according to NatureScot, the public body responsible for Scotland’s natural heritage.  

Having no natural predator in the region, they proliferate. They have also been reintroduced to new areas.  

NatureScot touts their role in biodiversity and flood protection. They cut down trees, dig burrows and canals, and build huts and dams.  

“They are wonderful engineers, but they have no place in Scotland,” farmer Douglas Neill retorts firmly.  

He watches, disappointed, as trucks rebuild a dike protecting his land from flooding from the River Tay.  

She gave up in October because of the burrows dug by the beavers, he says. “This potato field has turned into a real lake.”  

He shows sheds that could contain 3,000 tons of vegetables: “They are empty, because of the beavers.”  

“Environmentalists want beavers, but are they thinking about what we’re going to eat? », questions the farmer who estimates the cost of the damage at more than two million euros. “If we want to continue producing our own food,” we need to “eradicate” beavers.

A few dozen kilometers away, in the highlands, in the county of Perthshire, a Scottish woman shows the ravaged wood above her house. Dozens and dozens of trees are on the ground, their trunks cut.

Beavers diverted water flowing into a ditch with their dams and built huge lodges on a pond. There would now be four families.  

“At first we thought it was great to have beavers. They are so cute. We didn’t realize,” says this retiree, who wants to remain anonymous, as the subject is so conflicting. And she doesn’t want to see “beaver lovers” land on her land.

Her husband wanted to let native trees grow in the woods. “But we lost so many! […] Beavers can easily cut down a tree in one night,” she said, overwhelmed. There are more and more of them and she sees no solution.

Martin Kennedy, the president of the NFU farming union in Scotland, wants “total exclusion zones” to protect agricultural production.  

NatureScot explains that it provides support to farmers, recognizing their difficulties. “As a last resort” and within a strict framework, it is possible to kill beavers. This requires a permit: NatureScot has granted 52 in 2022. A few dozen mammals have thus been legally killed.  

The Scottish Government defends a transfer policy in the event of a problem. Beavers were thus moved elsewhere in Scotland, but also in England.  

“I pity them,” said Douglas Neill, riding on his land, of the English. “They have no idea what awaits them in a few years.”