Their births mark the end of a more than 400-year absence of breeding beavers in urban London: at least two new kits born in the spring appear to be thriving, announced organisers of The Ealing Beaver Project this week.
In what is being called “a huge advancement in urban rewilding”, the successful reintroduction of beavers to London – and now the birth of the kits – is the fruit of a collaboration between multiple organisations and bodies.
The babies have been spotted venturing outside of their lodge in recent weeks at what is a publicly accessible site in Paradise Fields, a wetland in Greenford, west London. Beavers used to be permanent residents in the capital, before hunting, habitat destruction and persecution led to the loss of the species throughout the UK. Their arrival shows that humans and wildlife can thrive side by side in urban environments, said Dr Sean McCormack, the licence holder at the Ealing Beaver Project and chair of Ealing Wildlife Group.
