A LOCAL wildlife rescue team had a shock recently after receiving a call about an otter trapped in Frome; upon arrival, the team quickly realised that the otter was in fact not one, but two beavers!
The Secret World Wildlife Rescue team say, “The beavers were trapped in an overflow drain that was filled with around a metre’s worth of dirty water. It was important to get them out as quickly as possible as they were at risk of drowning if left in the storm drain.
“Beavers are the largest rodent found here in the UK and in recent years have been released into the wild as part of reintroduction programmes.
“One of the beavers appeared much weaker than the other so it is likely it had been trapped in the drain for a longer period of time.”
Wildlife care assistant Matt said, “They are certainly bigger than you expect and really quite heavy, weighing in at about 15kg each.”
After rescuing them and placing them into secure metal cages for transportation, Matt drove the beavers (suspected to be last year’s young) to RSPCA West Hatch in Somerset. The team there have had experience of working with beavers in the past so were best placed to look after them. Here the beavers were settled down into a pen where they spent the night and will be receiving some ongoing rehabilitation.
