AKIPRESS.COM - Beaver numbers have reached 6,000-plus in Russia, when a population of 4,000 is seen as avoiding harm to nature. So, some animals might face deportation to Mongolia, reported The Siberian Times.

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

Head of the Hunting and Fishing Department in Tomsk region of Russia Viktor Sirotin explained the beaver population had increased due to the absence of wolves.

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

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

A researcher at the All-Russian Research Institute of Hunting and Fur Farming, Alexander Saveliyev, 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."