Border markings eaten

last updated 8 January 2015

Latvian-Estonian border

Beavers have gnawed the border posts marking much of the boundary between Estonia and Latvia down to stubs, border officials said this week. As members of the E.U.—the two former Soviet republics both joined in May—the tiny countries no longer have manned border guardhouses. But the lack of any demarcation in rural areas makes it difficult to determine whose territory is whose. Guntars Kamensky of the Latvian Border Guard Directorate said his country would invest in new posts that are resistant to beavers and other pests. “No matter what union we are in, it should be clear to anyone that this is Latvia,” Kamensky said.