fter an absence from Italy of nearly 500 years, beavers are back. The species, which was once widespread across Europe, has been spotted in Italy’s northerly region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The animals are believed to have wandered over the border from neighbouring Austria or possibly Slovenia. An adult beaver was filmed by a camera trap in a forest near Tarvisio, a town that lies in the triangle where Italy, Austria and Slovenia converge. “The reason beavers disappeared from Italy is simple – for hundreds of years they were trapped for their fur and also prized for their meat,” Paolo Molinari,...