Local authorities prepare to hunt Swedish beavers
Local authorities in Skaraborg, central Sweden, have been granted permission to shoot some of the beavers in the area, blamed for a flooding problem which has been plaguing the town.
“Imagine having these fine creatures so close to the town. The flooding isn’t their fault,” said disgruntled field biologist Manne Ryttman to local paper Skaraborgs Allehanda.
There are reportedly some ten Swedish beavers resident in the area, since the first arrived about ten years ago.
In their application to the county council, the municipality board asked for all the animals to be shot, but they were only granted permission to shoot one adult animal and any potential young beavers born last year.
The flooding has reportedly been a nuisance for residents in the Aspö area of Skaraborg, where some football fields have become waterlogged and walking paths flooded.
“It is our youngest members that are affected by this, our football school,” said Rune Espefät of the local Skövde AIK football club to TV 4 News.
“Of course the beavers also have a right to be somewhere but we would really like to have our playing fields to ourselves.”
It is a local stream which is flooding the grounds, a stream that the municipality has promised to clear and where the beavers live.
However, according to Ryttman, the flooding probably has more to do with recent heavy rains than problems caused by the local beaver population.
“It is completely wrong to shoot them, they are useful and an integral part of the Swedish fauna,” Ryttman told Skövde Nyheter.
The Local/rm
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“Imagine having these fine creatures so close to the town. The flooding isn’t their fault,” said disgruntled field biologist Manne Ryttman to local paper Skaraborgs Allehanda.
There are reportedly some ten Swedish beavers resident in the area, since the first arrived about ten years ago.
In their application to the county council, the municipality board asked for all the animals to be shot, but they were only granted permission to shoot one adult animal and any potential young beavers born last year.
The flooding has reportedly been a nuisance for residents in the Aspö area of Skaraborg, where some football fields have become waterlogged and walking paths flooded.
“It is our youngest members that are affected by this, our football school,” said Rune Espefät of the local Skövde AIK football club to TV 4 News.
“Of course the beavers also have a right to be somewhere but we would really like to have our playing fields to ourselves.”
It is a local stream which is flooding the grounds, a stream that the municipality has promised to clear and where the beavers live.
However, according to Ryttman, the flooding probably has more to do with recent heavy rains than problems caused by the local beaver population.
“It is completely wrong to shoot them, they are useful and an integral part of the Swedish fauna,” Ryttman told Skövde Nyheter.
The Local/rm
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