New beavers to be released on Bodmin Moor in rewilding project
Watch Grace Pascoe's report.
The first of several new beavers will be released on Bodmin Moor today as part of a rewilding project.
The Cabilla Beaver Project has been fundraising since April so they can release up to six young beavers to a tributary of the Warleggan River.
Last month they raised their target of £9,500 and today are introducing one beaver to the moorland on a family farm.
Robin and Merlin Hanbury-Tenison are behind the project, supported by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Cornish Beaver Trust.
The beaver being released has been trapped in Scotland, then health screened and delivered to Bodmin Moor.
This release is part of a wider project on the Cabilla Cornwall farm which offers retreats to teach people about the natural world, help those with stress and help veterans suffering from PTSD.
Beavers were first brought back to Cornwall after 400 years in 2017 at Woodland Valley Farm near Ladock.
A male and female were released into a pond on-site and have been left to re-engineer the area through dam and canal building.
The creatures also have the potential to reduce flooding with their dam building, and digging of water channels enable the land around them to hold more water.
This means that during very heavy rainfall water doesn't flow as quickly into rivers, which will help prevent them overflowing and bursting their banks.
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