Why your donation matters

Devon’s beavers are a conservation success story, but their future depends on us. The beavers on the River Otter remain the only legally sanctioned wild population in England and Wales.

To secure their long-term survival, we need to:  

• Strengthen the resilience of beaver populations by increasing the genetic diversity. This means that more beavers need to be reintroduced into the wild through licensed releases.
• Carry out health screenings, site surveys, and post-release monitoring.  
• Support local communities living alongside beavers.

Our ambition now is to release new pairs of beavers into the wild by the end of 2025.

Could you help us achieve this goal?

Where your money will go?

Your donation will help to fund: 

• Health screenings to ensure the beavers are ready for release. Site surveys to identify the best locations for new beaver families.
• Ongoing monitoring to track progress and support their integration into the wild.
• Community engagement to ensure positive relationships with local residents.  

Every pound counts. As the only organisation with a track record in licenced wild beaver releases in England, we set high standards for animal welfare and make it a priority to work with local communities to help them to understand both the benefits and the sometime challenges that living with beavers can bring. 

This is carefully planned, thorough and important work. But the results – flourishing beaver families creating wetlands teeming with wildlife - will make it all worthwhile and your donation today will help us to achieve that goal. 

Please donate today to support this vital work. 

Devon’s Beaver success story

• 2015: Devon Wildlife Trust launched the groundbreaking River Otter Beaver Trial, bringing beavers back to the wild after an absence of 400 years.

• 2020: The trial concluded with overwhelming success, showing beavers’ benefits for wildlife, water management, and communities.

• Today: There are now over 25 family territories across the River Otter catchment, but further releases are urgently needed to strengthen their genetic diversity.

The beavers now living on Devon’s River Otter remain the only legally sanctioned beaver population in England and Wales. Their numbers are growing steadily and our research suggests they are now present in more than 25  family territories across the river’s catchment.

However, the origins of the first beavers to arrive remain a mystery. What we do know is that today’s River Otter beavers have grown from just a handful of pioneer animals. During the River Otter Beaver Trial we successfully released an additional four animals, to add to the founding population (thought to be two individuals). These wild releases represent the only licenced wild-releases of beavers in England but they were small in number. A clear recommendation from Natural England at the end of the River Otter Beaver Trial was the need to carry out further beaver releases to strengthen the genetic diversity of the current population.

Devon Wildlife Trust’s work has led the way in beaver conservation, but we can’t do it without your help.

By donating today, you can be part of the next chapter in this remarkable story of nature's recovery.

All donations to this appeal will support our work with beavers.  If we are lucky enough to raise more funds than the appeal target, additional donations will be used to fund habitat management work for beavers and other wildlife.