UK: Network Rail has installed a beaver tunnel to help the protected animals pass under the Highland Main Line near Gleneagles while preventing them from building dams across railway drainage culverts.
A pipe has been inserted through an existing culvert drain, with mesh fitted either side, to protect the railway while still allowing the movement of wildlife.
‘To a beaver, a culvert probably looks like a hole in a dam, so they are very popular damming spots’, said NR ecologist James Morrison. ‘The action we took near Gleneagles is the first beaver pass installed in the country that we are aware of. It is a repeatable solution which works to protect Scotland’s railway as well as safeguarding the beaver populations and other wildlife.’
