Beavers face deportation to Kazakhstan and Mongolia

Beaver numbers have reached 6,000-plus, when a population of 4,000 is seen as avoiding harm to nature. 

They damage trees and turn agricultural land into swamps by damming rivers. 

The head of the Department of Hunting and Fishing in Tomsk Region, Viktor Sirotin, said: 'The population has increased due to the absence of wolves.'

Hunters should be allowed to kill beavers during the spring hunt for water fowl, he said. 

But scientists propose deporting the beavers instead, claiming they can be useful to the environment in Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

Researcher of the All-Russian Research Institute of Hunting and Fur Farming, Alexander Saveliev, said: 'Where small rivers dry up, the beavers create dams, and part of the water flow is stopped.

'Dams keep the water. Beavers delay the outflow of water, so their activity increases the level of ground water.'