In March, the Sanctuary welcomed two rescued baby beaver sisters to their beaver nursery after years of work creating a wild haven for the girls to eventually live in. The beaver girls were named by the public, Barbara and Twiggy, and have been spending their first month at the Sanctuary in their nursery home. The girls have settled in so well, exploring and building a shelter, even beginning to fell trees within their nursery.
The team felt confident that the girls were ready to be released into their wild forever home, a huge section of the Sanctuary’s woodland has been prepared for the beavers, encompassing all the elements that beavers need to live a happy and healthy life.
Beavers are known as a ‘keystone species’. This is because their natural behaviour has a big impact on our landscape and wildlife.
By damming waterways, beavers pool water, slowing the flow in rivers and streams. This water floods an area, creating new wetland and attracting wildlife, providing a home and water source for many species.
The Sanctuary team are planning various research projects to understand more about beaver behaviour in the wild and how they impact the environment they inhabit. It is known that their presence is beneficial and may even help to combat climate change.
The projects will mainly focus on monitoring water pollution and impact of damming, biodiversity counts, landscape changes and public perception on beaver rewilding which will generate educational content to share with our guests visiting the seal sanctuary.
The girls were successfully released into their wild home on Friday, and have settled in incredibly well. The team are monitoring them each day, with cameras set up around the woodland to keep an eye on what they’ve been getting up to!
Jana Sirova, General Manager at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary said “It has been very bitter sweet to see Barbara and Twiggy released into their wild forever home. We cannot wait to see the changes they make to the creek and surrounding woodland. I really hope people will love spending time in our Secret Creek area watching out for signs of activity and learning all about these incredible animals.”
With the success of Barbara and Twiggy, and with the Sanctuary having the perfect facilities to introduce more beavers into their woodland, the Sanctuary welcomed a baby boy beaver to their nursery, who will be released into the woodlands with Barbara and Twiggy when he’s ready.