87Beavers: In Memoriam

Update — 19 September 2021

Despite the increase in numbers, Scotland’s beaver population is still one of the smallest among the 25 European countries where they have been reintroduced.

With the escalating severity of the climate crisis we face, it’s ecologically incoherent and grossly irresponsible of Scottish Ministers to continue to permit the killing of beavers - the one species that can have a positive impact on catchment-scale flooding and drought mitigation, and water quality, as well as bringing a huge biodiversity boost.

Instead of renewing lethal control licenses at the behest of a tiny group of subsidised landowners, the government should be actively assisting and funding the spread of this critically important species. We urgently need to develop and expand mitigation in the low ground and get beavers and their multiple environmental benefits back into the many suitable areas of their former range in the rest of Scotland.

References:

Conservation success as beaver numbers double in Scotland — NatureScot
Beaver numbers in Scotland "more than double in three years" — STV
Licences to kill: 115 Tayside beavers shot in 2020 — The Ferret
Over 200 beavers officially killed in Scotland since species became protected — Litte Green Space
Response to beaver reports published today by NatureScot — Trees for Life
ScotsBeavers — Facebook
ScotlandTBP — Facebook

Update — 30 November 2020

We've hand-picked some brilliant art from our wonderful artists' work to produce a calendar for 2021. You can buy it for £10 on eBay.

All proceeds from the calendar sales and auction will go to support the Scottish Wild Beaver Group, and the conservation and full reintroduction of Scottish beavers (Bìobhairean na h-Alba) to Scotland.

Buy the Calendar

Our auction of artwork starts on 1 December and you get the chance to own your very own piece of donated art. It finishes on 31 January, 2021.

This auction of the 44 original artworks that were sent in from around the world is one part of the 87Beavers art action, with other events and exhibitions planned. All proceeds from the auction will go to support the Scottish Wild Beaver Group, and the conservation and full reintroduction of Scottish beavers (Bìobhairean na h-Alba) to Scotland.

See the Auction From 1 December until 31 January

Browse all the submitted artwork

Update — 2 October 2020

Many thanks to all the artists who've submitted their work. Thanks to you, thousands of people have been made aware of the legal culling of 87 protected beavers — an estimated 20% of the Scottish population — in 2019.

The Trees for Life petition calling on ScotGov to capture and remove beavers to areas outside their current range as an alternative to shooting (#movedontkill) received the highest number of signatures of any Scottish Parliament petition in at least the last ten years (16,785). It was approved by the Petitions Committee on 1st October - it will now be debated by the Parliament (Environment Committee).

We are still working hard to organise an exhibition of the artwork sent in (within Covid restrictions/guidelines) - first on Tayside, then other venues. We will put more details of that and other ‘art action’ plans including the auction - on here as we get these organized. Watch this space and social media! Meanwhile if you still have art you wish to send in, please do so.

Update — 7 August 2020

But we still need to make the Scottish Government accept that killing beavers must only ever be done be a last resort. To help achieve this, we need to get thousands more signatures for the Trees for Life petition which now stands at 3,800 signatures, and closes on 27 August 2020.

Sign the petition

Beginning on 17 August 2020, landowners who hold licenses to cull beaver will once again be able to use them, now that the period of kit dependency is over. So this month will be crucial in the campaign to make "protected mean protected" for Scottish beavers.

So, we've decided to extend the 87Beavers art-action for another month! We'll continue accepting submissions and posting them on the website and social media accounts, though we may not be able to include them in the exhibition of physical artworks that's being organised to take place at venues around Scotland in the autumn.

Scottish Natural Heritage recently confirmed that 87 beavers, roughly one fifth of Scotland’s entire population, were killed under licence in 2019 despite being a protected species. At least ten of the animals were less than a year old.

Eurasian Beavers were native to Britain for centuries before being hunted to extinction 300 years ago. New, free-living populations became established on Tayside some time in the early part of this millennium and the Beaver finally gained Protected Species status in Scotland in May 2019.

However, SNH issued 45 beaver control licences to land managers in only the first 8 months of protection, of which 16 were used for killing and 19 for dam removal.

Submit Your Beaver Artwork

Help us commemorate the 87 beavers killed under licence & persuade the Scottish Government to use killing only as a last resort. Get "beavering away" and send a photo of your artwork (in any medium) to 87beavers@protonmail.com by 31 August 2020 & we'll get in touch with info about what to do next.

The 87 beaver artworks will be displayed online and in spaces around Scotland.

Browse all the submitted artwork

Bereaved

A poem by Robert Alcock

Read the full poem