Beavers wreak havoc in northern Croatia, no control in sight

The European beaver has been absent in Croatia since the end of the 19th century. In the 1990s, it had to be reintroduced. Now, without natural predators, it has spread across the country at a dizzying speed, creating severe problems.

The most significant damage caused by beavers is in Koprovnica, the Plitvice Lakes National Park, around the Kupa River, and in Gorski Kotar near Rijeka.

Kreszimir Krapiniec, a professor from the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Zagreb, explained that after the animal was brought to the country, the species began changing the landscape of Croatia, particularly in towns located by rivers or streams.

Beavers, which have spread more extensively and rapidly than expected, are causing increasing problems for people and the environment. The issue is even more pressing because there is no plan to manage the population of these largest rodents in Croatia, emphasized the professor on HRT television. When seeing beavers, people often mistake these 66-pound animals for dogs. However, their presence is easily recognizable by the felled trees visible at every step, noted Krapiniec.

At the end of the 1990s, 85 European beavers were brought to Croatia, and today their population reaches around 10,000. The rodents are responsible for, among other things, flooding arable fields, creating obstacles on roads or railway lines, and degrading riverbanks and flood defences.

The professor from the University of Zagreb also noted that the Adriatic country has recently been threatened by an invasion of American muskrats, which were previously imported from the USA. The muskrat has not become a widespread problem, unlike the coypu, which began to reproduce rapidly after escaping from farms. However, the expert concluded that even this problem is far more minor than the plague of beavers.