Cheshire Wildlife Trust has raised £30,000 needed to build beaver-proof fencing as part of a project to reintroduce the animal in the county.
The Trust now has funds required for the fence at the 4.5 hectare enclosure near Hatchmere in Delamere.
Contractors have already made a start preparing for the arrival of a pair of beavers.
It is part of a five-year project in which it is hoped beavers will breed and help create a new landscape as they adapt to their surroundings.
Cheshire Wildlife Trust needs an additional £11,000 to bring the beavers to their new home safely from Scotland.
It will then cost £17,000 to look after the animals and to monitor the positive impact they are having for other local wildlife for their first year.
England is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries and beavers offer a chance to reverse the dramatic decline in wildlife by allowing nature to restore itself.
The government’s decision last month to allow a wild population of beavers to remain in the river Otter in East Devon has reinforced the importance of bringing the animals back into England’s countryside.
The River Otter beaver trial showed the animals’ skills replenished and enhanced the ecology of the river catchment in East Devon.
They increased the “fish biomass” and improved the water quality.
This meant more food for otters – beavers are herbivores – and clearer and cleaner water in which kingfishers could flourish.
Their dams worked as natural flood-defences, helping to reduce the risk of homes flooding downstream.
The Cheshire Wildlife Trust project will become England’s tenth beaver reintroduction, with other sites already in the South West, Kent, Gloucestershire, East Anglia and Yorkshire.
Support before next Wednesday
All those who supported the appeal before September 30 will be made aware of the date the beavers are to be released.
Those that gift £50 or more will also be able to watch the beaver release online.
www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/donate/beaver-appeal
(Pic David Parkyn Cornwall Wildlife Trust )
£11000 to bring the beavers to Cheshire? Haven’t they heard of Megabus?