Devon Wildlife Trust says concerned members of the public have been in touch about a report of a female beaver being shot dead.
The statement follows environmentalist Ben Goldsmith revealing his discovery of the creature’s body in a Devon woodland.
He said it was near a river inhabited by beavers he had written about recently for the Spectator magazine.
Mr Goldsmith’s report posted on Twitter led to an outcry of sadness and concern at the death.
Some users questioned how he could identify the cause of death, but Mr Goldsmith said the creature had clear gunshot wounds.
The location of the body has not been identified, but Devon Wildlife Trust says it was not at or near the River Otter or West Devon projects it is managing.
There is no law against killing a beaver in England or Wales. In Scotland a law came into force this month giving them protection.
Peter Burgess, Devon Wildlife Trust’s director of conservation and development, said it had been contacted by concerned members of the public about the report of the dead beaver.
He said the trust was unaware of any lethal control of beavers anywhere in Devon.
Mr Burgess said beavers brought a series of important benefits to the environment and the trust was working to resolve issues around the animals being returned to the wild.
The animals were hunted to extinction in the UK around 400 years ago, but have returned in recent years and are being closely monitored by the trust in Devon.
Mr Burgess said: "We are currently in the final year of the River Otter Beaver trial and, as part of the trial, are working with a range of partners and stakeholders, including scientists, local communities and land owners/managers, on strategies to manage any real or perceived conflicts between beavers and people, if beavers remain in the wild.
“We are not aware of any lethal control of beavers in the River Otter Trial area or the enclosed site in West Devon, and any conflicts or misinformation that could prompt this kind of action have been well managed through good communications and the provision of practical action and solutions by the experienced team delivering the trial.
“The only licensed population of beavers living in the wild outside of Scotland is currently in the River Otter.
"To date the population has expanded and in the majority of cases beavers have been welcomed to the area.
“Currently beavers in England and Wales are not given any legal protection.
“The capacity of beavers to radically alter our wetlands is huge, which our research is showing can be enormously beneficial in terms of improving water quality, reducing flood risk and creating habitat for other wildlife.
“But activity on this scale can bring beavers into conflict with people.
"For example, in one case over a hectare of grazing land has been flooded due to damming of low-lying ground.
“A big part of the work of the River Otter Beaver Trial is to understand what the potential conflicts are and to work with landowners, communities and specialists to devise ways of managing them in both the short and the long term.”
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Mr Burgess said the trust would be proposing a range of solutions to the Government with the support of local people.
They would include recommendations to ensure beavers were healthy and their welfare was taken into account.
He added: “We are also championing the need for a management group to be in place to provide advice and support to help beavers and people to coexist once again.”
Mr Goldsmith tweeted a photograph of the apparently decomposing body of the animal and said: “I wrote last month about a magical Devon wood that has been transformed by a pair of beavers.
“I went back there today and found the decomposing corpse of the female, pregnant, shot. The male nowhere to be seen.
“Beavers in England have no protection, yet.”
He added a photograph of a stretch of water with a dam in the foreground and said: “Here’s their dam, now neglected and falling to bits.
“The pool behind it - created just last year - still teems with amphibians, small fish, ducks, herons, kingfishers and life of all kinds.
“Not for much longer, as it will now break down and the water will go.”
Mr Goldsmith is an environmentalist and financier who runs an investment trust specialising in the efficient use of energy and resources.
Last year he was appointed non-executive director at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Mr Goldsmith wrote in a series of tweets: “In this country there is an embedded culture of killing.
“So many country people consider themselves to be fighting a war against nature, unable to stop for fear that nature might somehow ‘win’.
“No matter how beneficial some species might be, they just keep on killing.
In Scotland beavers now have legal protection. But the killing goes on.”
His tweets triggered a series of posts expressing sadness and concern.
Dominic Dyer wrote: “This is terrible but yet another case of the ongoing war against our native wildlife across the British Countryside from badgers to beavers and hen barriers to golden eagles nothing is safe”.
Linda McKellar replied to Mr Goldsmith: “This is absolutely dreadful. What is happening to our country?”
Another response said: “This is so sad but it also makes me shudder with horror at what people are doing.
“These people out there with guns have no respect for nature and life which frightens me.”
Others questioned how Mr Goldsmith knew the beaver had been shot and was pregnant.
He explained: “Quite a few people are asking how I know this beaver was shot.
“There are clear bullet entry and exit wounds.
“In any case beavers live 20 years or more, and don’t tend just to die for no reason, and certainly not out in the open.
“Moreover beavers don’t have predators in Britain.”
He added in another tweet: “No evidence that it was pregnant, except for the existence of a breeding lodge, and the time of year.
“Definitely shot - very clear entry and exit wounds, in spite of the decomposition.
"The landowner is now aware and is as upset as I am.”
One Twitter user accused Mr Goldsmith of sensationalising the death.
Another suggested the beaver could have been destroying someone’s property.
Mark Ryder replied to Mr Goldsmith: “I don't think many country people would kill a harmless beaver for the sake of it.
“Sounds like mindless yobbery or someone has an axe to grind and doesn't want the stream dammed.”
There are eight families of beavers living on the River Otter in an area covered by a five-year trial run by the wildlife trust to assess the impact of their reintroduction.
Beavers were reported back on the River Otter in 2008, but it is not known where they came from.
Devon Wildlife Trust, a charity which relies on donations, stepped in to set up the trial which is costing £600,000.
It opposed a plan by the Government to remove the creatures after video evidence emerged in 2014 of the birth of young, known as kits.
The East Devon trial operates under a licence granted by Natural England which is monitored by a group including Devon Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency, Devon County Council and Clinton Devon Estates.
