The reintroduction into the wild of creatures like the beaver and sea eagle that had previously died out in Britain is endangering the countryside, an influential group of vets has warned.

Centuries ago they roamed Britain freely until they were hunted to extinction. So a campaign to reintroduce species such as beavers, wolves and bears to the wild may seem like a just crusade.
But an influential group of vets has cautioned against the “vogue” for reintroducing creatures that previously died out in Britain, arguing that such schemes could be an environmental “disaster”.
A report by the Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management, which represents about 550 vets who specialize in wild animals, describes reintroduction projects as “potential man-made threats to biodiversity”. It says that reintroduced species can become “over successful” and take over habitats from other animals and spread disease.
“It is not sufficient justification to say they were in this country some hundreds of years ago,” it says.
Among species to have been reintroduced from other countries in recent years, are the sea eagle (or the white-tailed eagle), the beaver, the red kite and the osprey.
Other species, such as the wild boar, are thriving, having been “accidentally” reintroduced by escaping from captivity. There are also proposals to bring back wolves and lynx to some parts of Britain.
Dr. Lewis Thomas, the secretary of the association, said: “Our countryside now is so developed since we last had these species here that it has changed immeasurably. In a small country like ours they can have a devastating effect on the ecology.”
He said the red kite, which was driven to extinction in England by the early 20th century over concerns they were killing livestock, before being reintroduced in a project in the 1990s, had now become dominant in many areas and was threatening songbird species.
“Supporters of these projects talk about so-called 'controlled' reintroductions, but you can't control things like the beaver or the wolf,” Dr Thomas said.
“It is the impact on our current wildlife that is the worry. The reintroduction of the beaver would be a disaster for the ecology.” Beaver reintroduction projects have been criticized for the impact their dams can have on migratory fish as well as the increased risk of flooding they create.
Along with the red kite, animals which have been reintroduced in England in the past two decades are the corncrake, pool frog, large blue butterfly, the osprey and great bustard.
Reintroduction projects are increasingly common around the world as several governments, including Britain's, are legally obliged to consider bringing back native species to their former range.
The government agencies Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council of Wales have all supported such schemes in recent years, calling them “essential conservation techniques”.
Pilot projects to bring back the European beaver, which lived in Britain until the 17th century, when they were hunted to extinction, are under way in Argyll and Devon, and larger schemes are proposed for elsewhere in England and Wales.
The sea eagle, which had vanished from Britain by 1918, has been returned to Scotland and there are plans to bring it to the East Anglian coast, although they have been criticized over claims that the birds take lambs.
Ecologists in Scotland are campaigning for the reintroduction of wolves and the Eurasian lynx, which they argue could have beneficial impacts on tourism and the environment, because they could control deer numbers and so protect woodland.
There have even been calls for the introduction of the European brown bear to the Cairngorms National Park. The vets' report, Life in the Wild, also supports the campaign for a repeal of the Hunting Act, suggesting that hunting is the best way to provide sustainable and healthy populations of animals, such as foxes, by selectively removing old, weak, injured and diseased creatures.
The report will be officially released at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace, Oxon, which begins on Friday and which is being held in association with the Telegraph.
(Source: Daily Telegraph)