Court fines Solothurn municipal president and worker over beaver dams

A court in the Swiss canton of Solothurn has fined a municipal president and a municipal employee for repeatedly removing beaver dams without the required cantonal authorisation, SRF reported.

The employee must pay a fine of 3,500 Swiss francs, while the municipal president was fined 2,500 francs. The ruling by the Thal-Gäu District Court is not yet final and can be appealed to the Solothurn Higher Court.

The employee said during questioning that he had removed beaver dams 300 to 400 times over about five years using a small grab crane. He said he knew beavers were protected but had not realised that removing their dams was illegal. The municipality had instructed him to keep the village stream flowing.

The municipal president also told the court that the conflict with beavers had been a problem for years and that there was no satisfactory solution. He said he had not known that removing the dams was illegal, adding that the workers had cleared stream blockages rather than destroying large, old dams.

The case began after an employee of the responsible Solothurn authority saw piles of branches along the bank, which were believed to be dismantled beaver dams. The witness said she had never seen removals on such a scale. The municipality had permission to remove branches from the main dam when it became too high, but no broader authorisation.

The public prosecutor had sought suspended prison sentences of nine months and fines for violations of the Federal Act on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. The court instead convicted both defendants of a lesser offence, saying they had made life difficult for the beavers but not to the extent alleged by the prosecution.

Beavers and their dams remain protected in Switzerland. Their dams can create wetlands that provide habitats for amphibians, dragonflies, fish and other species, but they can also cause flooding that damages meadows, fields and buildings.