Only in this part of Serbia live beavers! They are a protected species, and the penalties for endangering them are spicy

Before the fertile arable land was formed, the Vojvodina area was covered by large swamps several centuries ago, which were a natural habitat for beavers. According to records, the Swedish naturalist Taube found a family of eight of these rodents there.

– The beaver was exterminated from Serbia in the first half of the 19th century. They were hunted for their skin, for their meat and castor gland, from whose secretion perfumes, oils and baths were made. What made the beaver situation in Vojvodina even worse was the drying up of ponds and swamps. For those reasons, beavers disappeared from Serbia, as well as from all over the Balkans, said Mihailo Stanković, an associate expert and researcher at the Zasavica Nature Reserve.

Did you know that there are beavers in Serbia?

Only seven naturally conserved populations remain in Europe, and in cooperation with the Belgrade Faculty of Biology, the Bavarian Association and the Zasavica Special Nature Reserve near Sremska Mitrovica, four families of beavers were released in 2004, more precisely 35 individuals, each with a tracking chip. . In sixteen years they have multiplied, so that today about 100 beavers live in the remaining wetlands of this area.

– During the day they rest in their den, but are active at night and are most active from 10 pm to 4 am. The beaver is the largest rodent in Europe and Asia, measuring about a meter long and weighing about 30 kilograms. Most of the time, they cut the tree trunks, which then serve them several times, says Stanković.

If the water level fluctuates, the beavers build a dam out of the fallen trees and so far, thanks to the hard work of this rodent, up to ten have sprouted in Zasavica.

– The largest measures up to fifty meters and in it they installed thirty cubic meters of material in five and a half months. The objective of your dam is only one, and it is to maintain the water level at a certain depth to have enough quantities for an optimal life, so that they feel safe. The thickest trees first bite down hard with their incisors, then gnaw on it and thus peel it whole. The crust is their food – Stankovic emphasized.

However, these tireless builders can sometimes do great damage, because each tree costs between 30 and 70 euros per cubic meter, and they know how to “eat” many cubic meters, and therefore many euros.

Although they can cause damage, their positive role as scrubbers of nature is much greater.

The Nature Protection Law provides extremely high fines for those who endanger protected beaver species, ranging from half to two million dinars.