The dammed united? Race against time to trace scattered beavers

IT'S 400 years since beavers were last seen on the banks of Scotland's lochs and rivers.

But today a £1.8 million plan to reintroduce them to the countryside is in doubt after it emerged that one animal had vanished, two had gone on the run and another had died.

Police are investigating in the first case after wildlife agencies claimed the beaver might have been shot.

Three families of the aquatic mammals were brought from Norway and released at carefully selected sites in Knapdale Forest, Argyll, two months ago as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial.

Launched jointly by Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), the beavers' fate has been well-monitored.

But shortly after release, a young unnamed male from the Loch Linne family died from unknown causes. Around the same time, Gunn-Rita, the mother of the family released at Creag Mhor, disappeared after unauthorised shooting in the area.

The trial's organisers said that the disappearance of Gunn-Rita seemed to have unsettled the father, Andreas Bjorn, prompting him to leave the loch, abandoning one-year-old Mary Lou.

He was traced, via electronic tracking devices, to a marine farm near Kilmarin. But project officers have yet to catch him.

A spokeswoman for the RZSS said they believed Mary Lou was trying to follow her father's scent, and had been traced to the Crinan Canal before vanishing.

She said, however, that they hoped all would be found safe: "We think that the shooting may have startled the family and caused them to scatter. The one day they were altogether there was the shooting and by the end of the next day they seemed to have vanished. We're hopeful that the female will turn up and given that we know where the male is, we're concentrating our search for the younger female in specific areas."

Critics say beavers could interfere with Scotland's angling industry by building dams and blocking streams. They also claimed that the beavers could bring disease with them.

Donald Linton, chairman of the Argyll mainland branch of the Scottish Crofting Foundation, said: "I am totally against the trial – beavers shouldn't have been introduced into this country, but I would hate it if anyone had tried to shoot them.

"I personally don't think anyone would shoot them – it would probably be someone shooting a deer."

Project manager Simon Jones said: "These are wild animals and we expected some movement which is one of the reasons why they are monitored so closely.

"Field staff and volunteers have been working around the clock in an effort to track the missing beavers.

"We are obviously concerned there could to be a link between (Gunn-Rita's] disappearance and the unauthorised shooting and police have been informed. "

Since the shooting there have been no signals from Gunn-Rita's tracker.

However, despite these setbacks, Allan Bantick, chair of the Scottish Beaver Trial partnership, said that they were happy with the way the project had developed.

"We are thrilled that two families of beavers have settled into their new surroundings so quickly," he said. "I very much hope that the missing female from the third family has not been shot and await the result of the police investigation."