Dorset Beaver Management Group

Advice and support on beavers in Dorset

As of October 2022, Eurasian beavers Castor fiber are recognized as a resident native species in England and became a European Protected Species, under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. This means it is an offence to deliberately capture, injure, kill or disturb beavers, or damage and destroy their breeding sites or resting places.

Free-living beavers of unknown number and distribution have been discovered living in parts of Dorset and a Beaver Management Group has been formed to help support communities where beavers are present. It is not known where the beavers originated from, but there are free-living beaver populations on several rivers in the south-west of England and they are slowly colonizing new areas. Beavers have the potential to provide many benefits but, in some situations, can also pose a challenge for humans learning to co-exist with a species once again. 

The Dorset Beaver Management Group has been set up under the Dorset Catchment Partnership, and consists of organizations and individuals working together to provide expert advice and information to communities and landowners across Dorset’s river catchments where people are living alongside beavers.

For more information on beavers and beaver management, visit the Beaver Management website.

For advice and support on beavers living in your area please email beavers@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk.