This report provides an update to NECR345: Disease Risk Analysis for the Conservation Translocation of the Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) to England. This report includes a new translocation pathway in which beavers held in fenced enclosures and other captive collections in Great Britain might be released in England and assesses an additional identified 28 hazards.
Beaver reintroduction is a topic of increasing interest in England. Although species reintroductions are a key conservation tool used to help restore species populations and/or ecosystem function, species translocations can facilitate the movement of parasites and risk animals encountering parasites that they normally would not be exposed to.
Disease risk analysis is a qualitative risk assessment method undertaken in the planning stage of a conservation intervention such as a reintroduction. During a disease risk analysis, the risk that infectious and non-infectious hazards will precipitate during or following an intervention is analysed in the absence of mitigating measures. Subsequent mitigating measures are proposed to reduce this risk.
Disease risk analysis and the evaluation of mitigation measures is, therefore, a key step in understanding and controlling any disease risks for humans, livestock and wildlife that may arise from a reintroduction or translocation of wildlife.
This report provides an update to existing disease risk analyses for beavers in Britain and investigates the translocation pathways specifically relevant to reintroductions in England.