Beavers became extinct in the UK about 500 years ago after being hunted to the last one. Given the size of the UK - 1/3rd the size of Texas? - and its current population of 67 million people that doesn't leave much room, in some minds, for beaver "parks".
Some idiots have released wild boar into the countryside "freeing" them from captivity in farms and they are becoming a problem. Mink too which were never native.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Beavers are now quite widely re-introduced in the south and east of England, having had years of trials. People and agencies can't control beavers now. The animals take down trees where they want to and some farmers don't like it. We don't have the huge swathes of forest as in the Pyrenees, the US, Canada or the Urals, so we can more easily see their immediate impact, I suppose. The govt now seems to have got behind the re-intro (after decades of dithering) and sees the advantages of flood management, bird life support and wider ecosystem building that the beavers can offer.
The govt killed 20% of the Scottish beaver population, this year in May, because farmers were protesting. It was one of the news items that really made my heart genuinely ache this year (there were a few). It seems to myopic, after so many people have worked so hard for so long with the trials. The slow consensus seems to be that the beavers will help on balance, but the transitions are happening mostly on private land - so perhaps there will always be conflict, as with boar, hen harriers, golden eagles etc. Farmers feel victimised. These things move soooo slowly.
I would love to see lynx re-introduced here in my lifetime.
We have one of the UK beaver reintroduction sites about a mile away here on the Surrey/Sussex border. Although our small town is a prime commuter dormitory town for London it is still very rural around us with plenty of wildlife but it was still a surprise that our area was chosen as a suitable site.
I found this terrapin today. They all have unique colors. He is fully grown and probably old. They are completely land based and a texas native. They can live upwards of 50years. I wish he would hang around longer but when I turned my back he was gone.
lots of frogs and snakes in the yard today while mowing. I don't think I harmed any. I guess the snakes are eating all the frogs since I saw more snakes than frogs. Really pretty snakes.
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Some idiots have released wild boar into the countryside "freeing" them from captivity in farms and they are becoming a problem. Mink too which were never native.