Government response

Eurasian beavers

An update on legislation which provides for the protection, control and management of Eurasian beavers in England.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 21 July 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Today (21 July) the government has introduced legislation which establishes the legal mechanism to strictly manage the release of Eurasian beavers and their control after release.

This builds on the programme of work started in 2014, including a five-year trial to investigate the effects of wild-living populations of beavers on the River Otter.

In 2020 we published the evaluation of the results of that trial, and government then launched a consultation which closed in November 2021 on our proposed management approach.

Further details on the management regime will be published in due course.

Published 21 July 2022