FAQ: What is the European experience of beaver reintroductions?
Reintroductions and translocations of European beaver have now taken place in 24 European countries. They began in the 1920s, e.g. in Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Russia and the Ukraine and have continued in the 1980s and 1990s, e.g. in the Netherlands, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia and more recently in Spain.
Reintroductions usually involve the release of animals over a number of years to several sites. Most have been successful in terms of breeding, population growth and range expansion.
Over 150 reintroductions have now been undertaken across Europe, most without the detailed monitoring proposed in the Scottish Beaver Trial, but some have been thoroughly studied enabling scientists to predict with confidence the likely pattern of events post reintroduction. Read more about European research on beaver reintroductions from our publications page.
