Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) health surveillance in Britain: Assessing a disjunctive reintroduced population. (2nd February 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) health surveillance in Britain: Assessing a disjunctive reintroduced population. (2nd February 2021)
- Main Title:
- Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) health surveillance in Britain: Assessing a disjunctive reintroduced population
- Authors:
- Campbell‐Palmer, Róisín
Rosell, Frank
Naylor, Adam
Cole, Georgina
Mota, Stephanie
Brown, Donna
Fraser, Mary
Pizzi, Romain
Elliott, Mark
Wilson, Kelsey
Gaywood, Martin
Girling, Simon - Abstract:
- Abstract: Background : Numerous translocations of Eurasian beavers have occurred with little implementation of standardised health screening. Pre‐release health screening enables the selection of individuals with the best survival prospects and reduces potential health risks, but this is by‐passed during unofficial releases. Beaver reintroduction to Britain has been haphazard and currently disjunctive populations of varying status exist. Methods : This observational cross section study investigated the health status of three beaver populations, with 90 live beavers tested for a range of pathogens comprising 56 from Tayside (unofficially released Scotland), nine from Knapdale (officially released Scotland) and 25 from Devon (unofficially released England). In addition, a further 32 cadavers were screened (25 from Tayside and seven from Knapdale). Results : All beavers were in good physical condition, did not harbour any non‐native disease or parasites of concern and demonstrated remarkably low levels of any disease or parasite exposure. Conclusion : Beavers are establishing and adapting well to British landscapes and are not acting as reservoirs of significant zoonotic diseases. Official, licensed reintroduction programmes may appear overly convoluted; however, reputational damage of unofficial releases should be considered, along with the health and welfare of the animals involved and collateral damage to other wildlife, domestic animals and humans.
- Is Part Of:
- Veterinary record. Volume 188:Number 8(2021)
- Journal:
- Veterinary record
- Issue:
- Volume 188:Number 8(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 188, Issue 8 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 188
- Issue:
- 8
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0188-0008-0000
- Page Start:
- no
- Page End:
- no
- Publication Date:
- 2021-02-02
- Subjects:
- beaver -- reintroduction -- retrospective survey -- wildlife disease
Veterinary medicine -- Periodicals
Médecine vétérinaire -- Périodiques
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine
Periodicals
Periodical
Electronic journals
636.089 - Journal URLs:
- http://veterinaryrecord.bvapublications.com/ ↗
http://www.bmj.com/archive ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1002/vetr.84 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0042-4900
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 9230.000000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 24658.xml