FAQ: Do beavers transmit disease?
All Scottish Beaver Trial (SBT) beavers have been quarantined following DEFRA regulations to ensure that they were suitable for release. The beavers were tested for a range of diseases, parasites and bacteria before they were released. All trial animals are caught once a year and re-tested as part of their annual health check monitoring programme. Water is also collected from all the lochs within the trial area that have beavers present on them for public health water chemistry testing throughout the year. The risk to the public from these animals appears to be no greater than from any other wild mammal or human in Britain.
What about Giardia?
Giardia lamblia is a parasite that lives in the small intestine of many mammals, including humans and beavers; it is not particularly associated with beavers as a species. The low incidence levels in Norway where there are tens of thousands of beavers are similar to those currently in Scotland, demonstrating that beavers are unlikely to increase the risk (there was one Giardia outbreak in Norway in recent years, near Bergen where there are no beavers).
The trial population spent a statutory period in quarantine to ensure that they are free from G. lamblia. We intend to work with the local public health department on testing for pathogens.
In the first year of the trial regular sampling and analysis of water quality has shown no significant increase in levels of Giardia and Cryptosporidia associated with the presence of the beavers.
