WWF warns over Austrian plans to kill up to 1,000 beavers

The World Wide Fund for Nature has warned that up to 1,000 beavers could be killed under quotas set or planned in six Austrian provinces, ORF reported on Tuesday.

Lower Austria is planning to raise its quota from 392 to as many as 600 animals, according to the WWF. The quotas would also allow the killing of 158 beavers in Upper Austria, 148 in Carinthia, 84 in Styria, 32 in Vorarlberg and 15 in Salzburg.

Additional killings beyond the quotas are already possible in Carinthia in cases of imminent danger and are also planned in Lower Austria.

“The beaver builds exactly what we need to combat heat and drought: natural dams that retain water and create valuable wetlands,” WWF species protection expert Sarah Stöger said in a statement. She called for an end to killing rules that violate EU law and for natural prevention measures to take priority.

WWF says two generations could be affected

The regular periods during which interventions are allowed generally run from early September to the end of March, the WWF said, to avoid breeding and rearing periods. However, young beavers can remain with their parents for up to two years.

If the parents are killed, for example in autumn, their offspring could also be affected. “The killing of the parents can also become a death sentence for many young animals,” Stöger said, warning against what she described as excessive action by several provinces.

The WWF also said the regulations conflicted with EU species protection law in key respects, particularly because the required assessment of individual cases was being bypassed. Its analysis identified further shortcomings in controls, legal protection and the consideration of effects on protected areas and interconnected beaver populations.

The organisation called on the provincial governments concerned to revise their regulations.