Category: Beaver Behavior

DO BEAVERS RESENT US?

The late summer rabid beaver story. We get them every year, and it’s truly impossible to know whether they arise from a truly rabid beaver OR a beaver protecting it’s young that are born in the summer, Surely we never ever hear about rabid beavers in the winter or spring. But then no one usually wants to swim then either.

Lucky to be alive: 73-year-old Greenfield man mauled by beaver

GREENFIELD — A 73-year-old Greenfield man is recovering from injuries suffered when his leisurely swim in a remote Franklin County pond turned into a life-or-death fight with an enraged, and likely rabid, beaver.

Mark “Pres” Pieraccini suffered extensive injuries in the Sept. 6 attack, and came close to drowning. He had multiple puncture wounds, flesh torn from an arm and a leg, scratches and lacerations over his body and scalp, and a torn tendon on one of his fingers. He also has a fractured knuckle on one hand, mostly likely from punching the beaver as it repeatedly attacked him.

He is also undergoing treatment for rabies.

In an interview with The Republican, Pieraccini said fighting a prolonged battle with an enraged 50-pound wild animal while trying to stay afloat left him exhausted. While the fight continued in the deep water — he estimated it lasted five minutes — it occurred to him that he was in deep trouble.

They man doesn’t want to say which beaver pond because he likes beavers and doesn’t want Mass Wildlife to kill them. So he’s clearly not a threat. But I myself spent 10 years of lazy mornings and evenings in very close quarters with beavers and their young and never felt in the least in danger.

Still when you think of what a tree looks like after beavers chew on it his leg doesn’t look that bad.

He said the doctors and nurses at the emergency room didn’t really grasp what he was saying when he told them he had been attack by a beaver. And then he took off his clothes to reveal the full extent of his injuries.

“No one had any clue what I was dealing with until I took my clothes off,” he said.”

Based on his research, Woodard said there have been just 11 attacks by beavers on people in North America over the last 10 years. In comparison, there have been 445 shark attacks, seven of them fatal, in the U.S. over the same period.

Most of those 11 beaver attacks involved beavers that were rabid. Woodard said he has no doubts, based on Pieraccini’s description and on the extent of his injuries, that his beaver was also rabid. The beaver has not been recovered, so there is no way to verify it.

The sad thing for the beaver of course is that every beaver in it’s family will soon be rabid too. Unless a rabid beaver is too crazed to swim home in the morning. In which case one or two might escape.

There’s more this morning, from Canada,

Not-so-docile animals: Angry beavers

Having lived an outdoor lifestyle for most of my life, I have come across a wide assortment of animals in distress. I once saved a baby pronghorn that misjudged the height of a barbwire fence, and a similar situation with a doe mule deer that had both hind legs tangles in the wire.

Lately, I have been seeing some very disturbing reports about beavers. My relationship with the beaver goes way back to my childhood and ranch days with my grandparents.

We had several creeks that flowed through our little ground. The water was very important to us, but for different reasons. My grandfather wanted the water to flow, free of obstructions, and irrigate his hay fields, so he could make money to keep us in daily gruel. I wanted the creeks for fishing.

The beavers dammed up the creeks, making wonderful ponds that held many trout. I would wade these ponds amongst the many beavers, and they basically ignored me. They never attacked me or threatened me for that matter. We maintained a very equitable relationship. They made ponds for me to fish in, and I kept the information from my grandfather, lest he blow the ponds, much to the dismay of the beavers and me.

So far so good, Some fond memories of swimming with beavers on the farm and fishing in their ponds. We like this story so far,

Science tells us that beavers can be very aggressive when defending their territory against interlopers. They might also attack humans when infected with rabies, although it is rare for a beaver to become rabid. There is also some thinking that beavers can become disoriented during the daylight hours and attack out of fear.

I have never found a beaver to be aggressive. I have walked up next to them, fished alongside of them, and watched them work on a pond for hours, never having one display any type of aggressiveness towards me. Perhaps that is about to change.

A 60-year-old fisherman in Belarus (a landlocked country in Europe) died when he was attacked by a beaver. The beaver tore open an artery and the man bled to death.

The media described the incident as “the latest in a series of beaver attacks on humans in the country.” Authorities claim the beaver was rabid, while others stated the man grabbed the beaver in an attempt to take a picture with it, hence the marshmallow and bison outcome.

Here the author does a fair job of walking through the famous beaver stories in the past few years, all cases of rabies or very very poor judgement. Or both.

Then he says something I truly enjoyed, Make sure you read this closely.

I am not sure if the beavers are seeking reparations for the years of trapping, they endured or if they hate kayaks. In either event, I am going to start keeping a closer eye on them when I am fishing a beaver pond. They may still be angry about the way my grandfather used to blow their ponds with dynamite.

Yes, Yes they are, I am too. Watch yourself around us buddy.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A MAN WITH BEAVERS IN HIS YARD?

heidi08 Beaver Chewing September 14, 2021

One LUCKY BASTARD!

That’s what I’d call him, Problem is he’s in Maine and all the smart people are on jury duty this week, or something. He simply can’t find a SOUL who know’s what he should do except kill em,

Battle with the yard-wrecking beavers takes an unexpected turn

Nobody really wants a family of beavers to take up residence in their backyard. At least, that’s what I’m coming to understand after just such a thing happened to me. The responses I’ve received since sharing my tale of woe a week ago have largely fallen into the vein of “trap ’em,” “whack ’em” or “hire someone to trap ’em and whack ’em.”

Of course, most of those responses came from a group of my friends who are a bit more unforgiving toward unwanted wildlife invasions than your group of pals might be.

A couple of others reached out to tell me that they had other ideas. The basic flavor of those responses: When life gives you beavers, make — well — arts and crafts, I suppose.

The article is written by John Holyoke of the Bangor daily news. He’s a sports and outdoor columnist so you would think he would appreciate having better fishing and duck hunting on his property, not to mention clean water and fire protection. But what do I know?

But back to my current beaver issue. Since my tree didn’t fall on the house, I’m reluctant to call the situation a “problem.” Yet.

After noticing the fallen tree and its beaver-chewed neighbor, I deployed a trail camera recently and have been eagerly waiting for more evidence of beaver activity that I could share with you. Unfortunately, according to my less-than-scientific beaver-o-meter, it doesn’t appear that the still-standing tree has taken any more mega-bites over the past eight days.

Or, I guess, I meant to say “fortunately.” Not that this tree is long for the world, mind you — Bucky has already reduced it to a leaning tower of birch that (again, fortunately) is tilted away from the house.

Still, I knew you’d love to see a video of my (current) nemesis (see also: red squirrels, moose, deer, et al.), so I had hoped to have had better luck.

That’s not to say that I had no luck at all, mind you.

I did get a great video of another critter visiting the scene of the beaver’s property crime. And when I first watched the video on a small thumbnail screen, I was quite certain that I’d captured footage of the world’s most acrobatic and agile beaver.

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?), my visitor was only a gray squirrel. And fortunately (or is it unfortunately?), the squirrel showed no interest in helping the beaver chew down the rest of my tree.

Poor man doesn’t even know where to put a camera, Do you have any water on your property? maybe a dam or a lodge? If all you have is a single tree that got chewed I’d say too bad, all you have is a beaver drive-by which gives you time to read up on how lucky you’ll be if they ever come back. i have just the book.

BEAVER AND MOOSE ARE FRIENDS…

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver ecological impact September 8, 2021

You know beavers must be like those kids that everyone knows and everyone counts among their their closest friends. I’m sure they get invited to all the birthday parties. But whether any of us will be on their guest list remains to be seen.

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Wyoming Beaver and Moose Chow Down Together in Grand Teton

It’s not exactly breaking news that wildlife in Wyoming has to compete for food sources. However, a recent video share proves that at least moose and beaver can peacefully coexist as that’s exactly what happened in Grand Teton National Park.

One of the tour groups that takes visitors through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks shared this quaint moment recently.

Nice to hear a tour guide saying the right thing about beavers.

Their video share was more than just a neat wildlife moment. They added a key mention about why beavers are key to many types of animals that I didn’t realize:

Beaver dams Stop, Slow, and Spread water to the benefit of numerous plant and animal species.

In effect, beavers in Wyoming create a wetland habitat that helps with the growth of plants and other edible sources that help wildlife like moose and deer which in turn helps bears and wolves.

One YouTube comment asked if this was captured near Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park. There’s no way to tell for certain, but that is one the locations where you can get an iconic pic of Grand Teton.

If nothing else, this moose and beaver moment shows that wildlife can and do get along as one animals manipulation of the habitat helps many.

Yes, And that animal is called a BEAVER, and whenever you trap them or hunt them or depredate them you ruin the habitat for many.

Just sayin’.

BEAVERS MOVE ALONG

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Dispersal August 30, 2021

There’s some nice new research out of Oregon which shows that beavers are getting around the state nicely. They disperse better in the same watershed but manage even across watersheds thank you very much. Color me not at all surprised.

Beavers are well established and moving through the Oregon Coast Range, study finds

Few studies have accessed the impacts of dispersing beavers, making it difficult to determine best practices for translocations. A new study from scientists at Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center begins to change that.

The scientists, who collected genetic samples from almost 300 beavers in the Coast Range of western Oregon, sought to understand whether landscape features, such as slope and distance to water, influenced gene flow among beavers.

They detected relatively strong genetic differentiation of beavers, which they believe is shaped by watershed boundaries and past relocations of the rodents. This led them to recommend that relocation efforts of beavers in topographically complex landscapes, like the Coast Range, occur within watersheds when possible.

Well, okay. I’m up for more relocation so that we can spread out the water in the gene pool.

“We wanted to see if there were things that are limiting beaver dispersal in western Oregon, whether they are not able to disperse because of geography or some physical limits,” said Jimmy Taylor, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S.D.A’s National Wildlife Research Center in Corvallis and a courtesy faculty member at Oregon State. “Our findings indicate that doesn’t seem to be the case. They seem to be moving freely within watersheds, with at least occasional movements between watersheds.”

Jimmy Taylor is a complex character in beaver world. I called him about Martinez wayy back in the day. He is definitely the kindest and most genuine beaver friend in the entire breadth of Wildlife Services USDA. But honestly there’s not much of a contest. I have to remember to readjust my standards every time we speak because he definitely doesn’t LOVE beavers the way I do. But he does know they’re important. And works to understand and share that fact as much as he can.

All God’s children got a place in the choir, you know.

In the recently published paper, the researchers focused on beavers in the Coast Range of Oregon, a region characterized by multiple watersheds, dense forests and steep hillside slopes.

They then mapped records of beaver translocations during the 20th century to consider the effect of those movements on the genetic structure of beavers.

They concluded that slope and distance to water did not strongly limit dispersal and gene flow by beavers in this system, but that dispersal is more common within watersheds, as opposed to between watersheds.

“This is a native species” Taylor said. “I’m pleased we see gene flow. This is an animal that’s well established and dispersing in its native ecosystem.”

Beavers get around. They find their way to move from one watershed to the next. That’s what we see in the Bay Area. And that’s what our European friends are noting as well.

Taylor is also hopeful that this research will lead to a greater appreciation of beavers in the Coast Range, where they are not as visible because they don’t tend to build dams or lodges in that landscape.

“There are a lot of beavers on the landscape but people don’t know that because they don’t see the classic signs that they learned in children’s books,” he said. “Part of what I’m trying to do is politely, respectfully educate people that there are a lot more on the landscape out there, and they are not all providing the cascading series of dams that people are looking for, but they still contribute to ecosystem services.”

Well said, Jimmy. Beavers provide ecosystem services even in habitats where people don’t expect them too. Like say in CITIES for example. In Martinez we watched that happen up close.

You must induldge me this morning because ever since the Caldor fire started I’ve been hearing phantom helicopters in the back of my mind and last night the monster turned towards my favorite place in all the world. Now the place where we canoe, skied, hiked and explored many seasons over many year has been evacuated and my parents property cannot be far in the future.

. If you have are lucky enough to own a tree, be kind to it today.

OTTAWA AGAIN? AND FAIRFIELD BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Behavior, Beavers, kits August 27, 2021

Lester the beaver must move as dam causes concerns in Ottawa’s south end

Now wait a minute, I’m so old that I remember that the mayor of Ottawa promised our friend Anita to “move the beavers”and then sent the film of the happily grown up kits living in safety. He sent the letter a month after they were captured and the footage showed them at least 6 months older.

And hey beaver relocation isn’t even LEGAL in Canada. Could the city be lying? Shocking!

Well they have their hands full and I will see who I can write and encourage or threaten, But mostly I want to tell you Fairfield’s Very Very good news yesterday morning. Just look what got seen by Penelope Parra the VP of the Laurel Creek Beavers yesterday,

Here’s what she said about her sighting. You will want to read every magical word.

This morning, I went to the Beaver Lodge at 545 in this morning. I was so so thrilled, I saw the Kit swimming around by himself. Then I spoke softly to him and he swam over to me super close. Then to my surprise, the momma beaver came over and splashed me. Then the kit did not leave, so momma beaver picked up the kit and swam close to where I was standing and gently put him down in the water In front of where I was standing.

I told her what a beautiful baby and what a good momma. She and the kit played by me, she taught him how to climb up the lodge. She took off and swam towards Heretic Dam I just have to share and share these pics with you. I am hopeful this will keep the city from destroying the beaver dam as there is a baby Kit in the water adorable.