{"id":540642,"date":"2026-04-20T07:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540642\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T07:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:15:08","slug":"why-are-there-plans-to-release-wild-beavers-into-dorset-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540642\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are there plans to release wild beavers into Dorset rivers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">By the beginning of the 16th Century, beavers were all-but extinct from Britain, having been hunted for their fur and scent glands that produce a substance called castoreum. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Supporters of their reintroduction refer to them as &#8220;ecosystem engineers&#8221; who act as a nature-based solution to environmental challenges and help meet national recovery targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The semiaquatic mammals have the ability to restore wetlands, reduce flood risk, improve water quality and boost biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Nothing can replicate what a beaver can do,&#8221; said Oliver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;They&#8217;re very much known as a keystone species, so relative to their abundance, they can have a really dramatic influence on other wildlife.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Their dam-building activity creates diverse habitats, slows water flow, filters pollutants, and supports other wildlife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This is said to make landscapes more resilient to impacts of climate change such as drought and flooding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Oliver added: &#8220;We need a healthy, functioning ecosystem around us in order to survive ourselves. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;If the environment&#8217;s doing well and it&#8217;s full of a lot of different wildlife and lots of biodiversity, it&#8217;s good for humans.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the beginning of the 16th Century, beavers were all-but extinct from Britain, having been hunted for their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-540642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}