Beavers at the Sanctuary
Welcome to the Secret Creek Beaver Project!
Did you know the Cornish Seal Sanctuary is part of a collaborative rehabilitation project with the Beaver Trust? Our project is all about supporting the trust’s vital work to protect this incredible species, and make sure they have a future here in the UK for generations to come.
Why are beavers important?
Wild beavers had been living in Great Britain more than 400 years ago before going extinct. They were mainly hunted for their fur and glandular oil (secreted from the base of their tail), which was thought to contain medicinal properties.
However, beavers are known as a ‘keystone species’, which makes them an important part of the natural environment. This is because their natural behaviour has a big impact on our landscape and wildlife. By damming waterways, beavers pool water, slowing the flow in rivers and streams. This water floods an area, creating new wetland and attracting wildlife, providing a home and water source for many species.
So, where does the Cornish Seal Sanctuary fit in?
The Beaver Trust are licensed to undertake translocations of beavers to new areas as part of the species’ wider restoration. This is important because some beavers are being pushed out of areas for ecological or environmental reasons. With the support of the Beaver Trust, they can move to safer areas that will allow them to thrive.
Here at the Sanctuary, our first collaboration with the Beaver Trust saw the re-homing of three beaver kits (baby beavers called Hamish, Scruff and Maple) who had been orphaned, and three adults (Barbara, Norbert and Twiggy). We provided a temporary home where they could learn to be beavers in a comfortable and safe woodland, before they were successfully moved onto other rewilding programmes.
Today, the Sanctuary continues to support the Beaver Trust, providing a nursery for beaver kits and a larger woodland area for growing beavers to find their feet in the wild.
How we got started…
As wildlife conservation is at the heart of all the Sanctuary’s efforts, we paired up with various conservation groups across the country to decide on the best use of the large woodland area at the Sanctuary. We knew beavers would make an excellent addition to the Sanctuary, providing them with the perfect habitat and in return opening doors to research to further study their impact on the environment.
To do this, what was formerly an otter enclosure was repurposed to create a new ‘Beaver Nursery’, where the team could monitor the behaviour and eating habits of our first beavers as they settled in.
Once they reached a good healthy weight (and had the capability of building lodges and dams), they moved to their brand-new home in the large 5 km2 wooded area behind the Beaver Nursery to live a natural beaver life.
