Well I'll be damned!

EAGER BEAVERS DO THE JOB WHILST BUILDING PERMITS DELAYED

A beaver community in the Czech Republic have created a natural wetland themselves, whilst authorities, planning their own project were stalled by red tape.

After seven years of planning their new 'dam' revitalisation project with environmentalists to protect endangered crayfish and create a nature-rich area, the Czech team were still seeking building permits from the Vltava River Basin when they discovered that a colony of beavers had already erected their own natural dams. What's more they'd done it without any documentation, exactly where it was needed and all for free!

So far the beavers have built around four dams and are in the process of constructing more, but according to environmentalists already the newly created wetland and pools offer good conditions for the rare stone crayfish, frogs and many other species.

"Beavers always know best" Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency (AOPK) told Radio Prague International. "The places where they build dams are always chosen just right - better than when we design it on paper."