‘Noises on camera trap' reveal first-of-their-kind babies at UK reserve. Listen
It turned out to be a 'major milestone' for conservationists.
Laura Snell, a conservation officer at the Helman Tor Nature Reserve, was helping with routine monitoring efforts when some 'noises on camera trap footage' caught her attention, Cornwall Wildlife Trust said in a July 23 news release. Immediately, she suspected the sounds came from baby beavers.
'At first we weren't certain,' Snell said in the release. 'But recent footage clearly shows a small kit appearing in the corner of the frame.'
A video shared on YouTube on July 22 by Cornwall Wildlife Trust shows a beaver moving around at night. Small whining sounds, almost like the fussing of a human baby, can be heard.
In a second clip, a baby beaver is briefly visible in the lower right-hand corner, partially obscured by the plants. The larger beaver seems to be taking care of it.
The baby beavers are 'the first confirmed wild kits at the site,' which is home to a beaver reintroduction project.
Beavers were once widespread throughout the U.K. but 'were hunted to extinction in the 16th century for their fur, meat, and the oil in their scent glands, which was used in medicine and even perfumes,' Cornwall Wildlife Trust said.
In hopes of undoing this local extinction, conservation groups have begun rewilding projects. Now, 'beavers are being re-introduced into different parts of Great Britain after an absence of about 400 years,' the organization said.
At Helman Tor Nature Reserve, wild beavers 'mysteriously appeared' in 2024 in 'an illegal release' later dubbed a 'beaver bombing,' officials said. The newfound kits are the offspring of these beavers.
'While we don't condone the way beavers arrived at Helman Tor in 2024, it's hard not to celebrate the birth of kits,' Cheryl Marriott, a director at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said in the release.
'It's a great sign that the beavers are thriving and the habitat they've created is healthy enough to support the next generation, but it's also just the beginning,' the organization wrote in a July 23 Facebook post.
'The Trust continues to monitor the beavers at Helman Tor as part of its Wild Beaver Project, which supports the responsible return and recovery of beavers' throughout the surrounding Cornwall region, the organization said.
Helman Tor Nature Reserve is in the southwestern United Kingdom and a roughly 240-mile drive west from London.
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