In the 16th Century, the last of the Beavers of Scotland were killed, and it appears that as early as 1188 there weren't many left in the whole of the British Isles.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110627142642AAg83v0
They make a nice hat, so I can understand why.
Well, after a 200-400 year absence depending upon whom you talk to.. still, murky waters have returned a bit of reserve and mystery to the British Isles. My research of the Scottish project, the first one I heard about and the one that intrigued me the most for some reason, has shown some success. Beavers as as common as mice in some areas of the US, we take them for granted, so I picture Willie the Scottish Janitor from The Simpsons wranglign with one like Bill Murray's Carl Spackler in Caddyshack. The Project, likned to below, counts 24 living individuals as I write in January 2013, out of an introduced population of 16, and it appears a nearby river has somehow been miraculously repopulated on it's own so that they are deciding to expand their study to observe there as well (could be amateur reintroduces, escaped pet's, or stream hating eco terrorists!). The population there is estimated at 150, so we are climbing towards 200 all told...
http://beaversinengland.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Tay They tried to capture them for a while, but gave up.
This accidental or not reintroduction on the River Tay is actually way ahead of the official reintroduction project.
