Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, Acting Minister for Climate Action, has asked the Scottish Rewilding Alliance to publish this letter on its website to update our members and supporters.

This follows a public outcry about the decision by Scotland's nature agency, NatureScot, to delay the granting of a licence to translocate beavers to Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin in Glen Affric. We at the Scottish Rewilding Alliance thank all those who wrote to the Scottish Government to express their concern about this decision and the process through which it was reached. 

Your voice is being heard.

In this letter, the minister reaffirms the Scottish Government's commitment to the targeted reintroduction of beaver populations in Scotland. We believe that a robust licensing process is necessary in order to ensure that species reintroduction projects are appropriately designed and run, engaging local communities and others in the process.

We do not agree that a single, conventional translocation project should require ministerial intervention and unnecessary delays that deter others from undertaking their own conservation translocations. 

We look forward to meeting with the Scottish Government later this month to discuss this situation.

Read the letter here.

Photo by Mark Hamblin / scotlandbigpicture.com