The beaver was first spotted in Slovenia in 1998, at the confluence of the Radulja and Krka rivers. It naturally returned to Slovenia from Croatia. The beaver, after it became extinct in Slovenia at the end of the 18th century due to overhunting, is now once again an indigenous species in Slovenia.

There are no exact figures on the current number of beavers in Slovenia, but the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning says the animal has good living conditions in Slovenia: "In 2015 around 60 beaver families, with around 300 to 400 members in total, were counted in Slovenia."
There is no intensive monitoring program for the beaver in Slovenia, but researchers hope to have success with one of the Life projects, which in the past have funded the monitoring and studying of the bear and wolf.

At one point the European beaver was on the verge of total extinction. Saša Vochl, from the Slovenian Forestry Institute, says that's why his return is a story of success. Vochl does admit that "when you reach a forest area where the beaver has been at work, you’re very surprised." He warns that people who run into problems with the beaver need to be assisted immediately, before they take action in their own hands, as such solutions are not always beneficial to the beaver.