If it’s up to conservationists, you might see beavers in London. “I think beavers on the Thames in central London is a very strong possibility in the next 5 to 10 years,” Ben Goldsmith, a rewilding advocate and member of the London Rewilding Taskforce, said.
“Beavers would thrive on the Thames and out in the Thames estuary. It’s a wonderful beaver habitat, and you don’t need to go very far from the centre of London to find seals and dolphins, even whales sometimes. The Thames Estuary is becoming an incredible wildlife habitat, and beavers would slot in perfectly,” Goldsmith told news agency Reuters.
The re-introduction of beavers in Devon was a huge success, so conservationists are focusing on re-introducing the animals in the rest of England.
“There’s one place where they studied the effect of beavers in the landscape in Devon and found a 16,000 percent increase in amphibians, frogs and toads and stuff in the space of three years,” Goldsmith said.
“By building little dams on the streams and creeks, beavers hold back water when it rains, and that helps reduce flooding downstream, it helps reduce drought, but it also creates habitat for all kinds of species,” he added.
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