Britain hunting lovelorn beaver (2)

LONDON (AFP) – There's a gnawing problem in the countryside --
a giant beaver on the loose, wreaking havoc in southwest England.

And his owner reckons there's only one thing that can lure the lovelorn rodent back into captivity: the scent of female beaver.

The six-stone (84-pound, 38-kilogramme) animal escaped from the Upcott Grange Farm in the county of Devon back in October, along with two females who were recovered soon after from a nearby lake.

But the one beaver still on the run is thought to be the culprit felling trees some 20 miles (32 kilometres) down the River Tamar at Gunnislake.

Conservationist Derek Gow, who owns 24 of the animals under licence, reckons the runaway is hunting for female beaver. He is planning to catch the escapee using honey traps: boxes that smell of females.

"I know where he is, but he's occupying a territory of probably a kilometre in length," Gow said.

"We've got traps being made up at the moment.

"Using the scent from one of the female beavers, we'll be able to catch the male beaver fairly quickly."

The furry escapee and his trail of destruction were widely covered in Wednesday's national newspapers.

Gow suspects the electric fence surrounding his beaver pen failed during a flood.

"We've checked the fence, we can't find any holes at all. We can't think of any other way they might have got out."

Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain in the 16th century.

However, in a controversial project, four families of beavers have been shipped in from Norway and will be released in western Scotland early next year.