Beaver discovered in the Lake Maggiore area for the first time in 500 years
Published: Saturday, Jan 6th 2024, 14:10
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After more than 500 years of complete absence, beavers have recently begun to recolonize Italy. A beaver was spotted in the Fondotoce nature reserve in Italy, not far from Lake Maggiore, on December 31, according to the administrative body of the Ticino and Lake Maggiore protected areas.
No beaver had ever been seen in the area before.
According to the administration, investigations are currently underway to determine whether the animal came from Switzerland. Samples are being taken for genetic analysis. Until a few years ago, beavers had completely disappeared in Italy because humans exploited their fur, meat and the oil extracted from some of their glands.
The first reports of the return to Italy of the beaver, a rodent that can weigh up to 30 kilograms and grow to almost 1.5 meters in length, date back to 2018 in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and some regions of central and southern Italy.
Successful resettlement
Beavers were also extinct in Switzerland for a time. However, the rodents have been successfully reintroduced here since the 1950s. According to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), 4,900 beavers were living in Switzerland again in 2022. Years before that, there were three times fewer.
Thanks to this development, the beaver has no longer been classified as endangered on the Red List of Mammals since 2022. The highest density of beavers in Switzerland is in the lower Thur valley near Frauenfeld TG and along the River Aare and its tributaries between Thun BE and Bern.
©Keystone/SDA
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