surprisedNow, we knew there was a beaver wandering around the area. Three years ago, someone who keeps beavers (why? I know not) up the river in Lifton lost three of them, and only managed to get two of them back. We have all been on the alert for the Gunnislake Beaver ever since - but nobody has managed to find him.
So, mathematically, one beaver lost = one beaver found, yes? Well, apparently not. The lost beaver was a whopping great big one. The found beaver....is a cute little baby beaver with a seriously mean attitude - in other words, he doesn't seem to be terribly familiar with people. The other two beavers we know were on the lam for a bit three years ago were caught well before they could have reproduced.
How many beavers are out there? Beavers are supposed to have been extinct in Britain for 400-odd years! Baby beaver (named Baz) has been sent to Lifton to the beaver enthusiast, on the grounds that he will know what to do with him. But now I am definitely on the lookout for toothmarks on trees!
The previous owner of Dartmoor Zoo was firmly of the belief that wild lynx sometimes came into his park and visited the zoo lynx. I wonder if he was right, and if he was, if the beavers come from the same mysterious source.
