The animals, which were hunted to extinction in the UK in the 16th Century, will be introduced to the Lake District for the first time in a trial.

The government-approved trial will look at how beavers restore small farmland streams and can aid flood prevention.

The Penrith-based Lowther Estate is part of the Cumbria Beaver Group, which also includes Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and Eden Rivers Trust, which is working towards the managed return of beavers to the area.

A family of beavers, with an adult male and female and up to four kits, will be taken from the Tay catchment in Scotland where beavers have been living wild since escaping or being illegally released some years ago.

The plan is to release them in March into a 27-acre fenced enclosure of woodland, grassland and wetland which the scheme's backers hope the animals will help transform into an even richer habitat.

It is part of changes to a more sustainable farming system on the estate, which also includes a switch from sheep to livestock including native longhorn cattle, which spend the winter outside and can be used for conservation grazing.

It is hoped the beavers will deliver benefits such as carbon storage, flood mitigation and an increase in other wildlife.

Conservationists support the return of beavers to Britain's rivers for the benefits they can provide in preventing flooding, by damming streams and slowing the flow of water, as well as boosting water quality.

Brilliant, guess they get protected species status to prevent them getting wiped out again.

I love beavers. Wonderful little critters. I grew up in Upper N.Y state and there were two beaver dams on the property. They seemed to especially enjoy chewing down white birch trees and converting them into dams and mounded dens with the entrance under-water.
In some parts of the U.S. they are thriving and creating a habitat that draws in all manner of wildlife, especially ducks, deer, and moose. The fish seemed to gather in those deep waters behind the dams.

Beavers are rodents whilst otters are mammals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver