Beavers can help Britain fight the climate crisis – if we welcome them back | Sophie Pavelle

England is finally protecting the beavers that could save our failing rivers - if they're permitted to be released into the wild

On Saturday 1 October, something remarkable happened. The Eurasian beaver was officially recognised as both a native" and a protected" species under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. In England, that means it is now illegal to deliberately kill, injure, or capture the world's second largest rodent, or disturb their dams, lodges or burrows without a licence.

Essentially, the change is legislative wordplay, yet anyone with half an ear to the ground is heaving a sigh of relief. Instead of being classed as no longer normally present" on the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, beavers are now native", placing them alongside the barn owl and the corncrake. Beavers in England join their Scottish cousins in the filing cabinet of animals under special protection - populations of which have been classified as European Protected Species (EPS) since 2019.

Sophie Pavelle is the communications coordinator for Beaver Trust. She is also an ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts, sits on the RSPB England advisory committee and is the author of Forget Me Not: Finding the forgotten species of climate-change Britain