Appeal for help to locate beaver's body

A wildlife trust in Devon has appealed for help to locate the body of a beaver believed to have died after it was spotted in the Tamar estuary.

Dr Matt Holden, from Devon Wildlife Trust, said it was his understanding the animal had died but until a post-mortem was carried out it was hard to know what could have caused its death.

He said: "We haven't actually picked up that beaver yet so I will just stress to anyone, if you do know the exact location of a dead beaver, whether it is this one or another one, please do let Devon Wildlife Trust know."

The beaver was spotted in the Tamar by customers of The Ferry House Inn in Saltash Passage but it was later reported the body of a dead beaver had been seen nearby.

Dr Holden said beavers were "typically expected to live in rivers or lakes and fresh water systems" but it was not uncommon for the animals to be seen swimming in estuaries or the sea.

"They use that as a mechanism to find new fresh water rivers to colonise," he said.

Dr Holden added: "In these situations, from our knowledge, and usually if they are found in the sea or in the estuary it usually ends up in a fatality.

"I think they get very exhausted and they can suffer from salt water toxicity, so if they have ingested a lot of water, it's probable that could be the cause [of death]."

Dr Holden said it was important for members of the public to alert the trust if they found a dead beaver.

He said this enabled the trust to establish if there was any evidence of an environmental crime or a pathogen or disease in the water - and carry out assessments of the wider beaver population.

Dr Holden said once the dead beavers were located and collected, post-mortems would be carried out by Natural England and the Zoological Society of London.

He also said people should report any sightings of beavers swimming in saltwater systems.

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