Baby's first Christmas - First hand-reared beaver nursed back to health in time for Christmas at Martin Mere

The first ever baby beaver to be hand reared in the UK has been nursed back to health by wardens, ready to enjoy his first Christmas at WWT Martin Mere in Lancashire.

From this weekend, visitors to Martin Mere will be able to see the young kitt via a live camera link in his enclosure, and hear the story of his remarkable recovery.

Mum and Dad are Twiggy and Woody, the pair of adult beavers at Martin Mere whose nocturnal activities captured on night vision cameras made them the undisputed stars of Autumnwatch last year. The baby beaver was found injured back in the summer, when he was believed to be just weeks old, and taken out of the enclosure for intensive daily veterinary treatment.

A specially designed enclosure was made for baby beaver in the treatment area and he has now finished his antibiotics and on the road to a full recovery. Five months on, he is proving to be quite a character as he loves his food, especially sweetcorn and sweet potato, and enjoys playing with his cuddly beaver toys by snuggling up to them and taking them into the pond.

Centre Manager, Andy Wooldridge, said: "Finding baby beaver was a real surprise for us and it is a credit to our aviculture staff that they have nursed him back to health with such limited knowledge of beaver treatment available to us. We are delighted with his progress and it is a joy to see his character develop. The fact that he appears to be making a good recovery is a real Christmas treat for all the staff that have looked after him and we are looking forward to sharing this experience with our visitors."

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