Category: Beaver Rehabilitation

A collection of articles and videos on rearing orphaned kits.

Beavers in the News

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental July 31, 2014

Chip Ward’s article is marching through the liberal hemisphere – now on Salon and Axis of logic. I’m very thrilled for the promotion but I sure hope it gets picked up by a conservative website soon. We don’t want liberals to be FOR beavers. Because then of course conservatives will be AGAINST them. Let’s emphasize their money-saving, small business owner expertise and get them on National Review Online or Red State soon!

On Axis of logic the editor offered these remarks:

Editor’s Commentary:

Timber is a Canadian beaver. That might not be his real name, but it’s what we call him nonetheless – and he responds to it. Timber was orphaned and successfully raised by a friend of mine, Michele.

It was once thought by scientists that beavers orphaned at a young age could not survive because of the intense family structure of these critters, and the fact an orphan would be shunned by other beaver families. We learned through another friend, Audrey Tournay, that this is untrue. Audrey is renowned worldwide for defying the biologists and showing that beavers can indeed survive and thrive with human nurturing.

Timber became one of the stars of two television programs.

I am in the process of working with Michele to write Timber’s biography and it should be ready later this year (I’m the writer, she’s the story teller – the tentative title is Beavers Never Read the Operating Manual). It will be a book aimed at encouraging young people to learn about, and develop a concern for, the environment all around them. It is not yet too late to save ourselves from ourselves, but we’ll need to engage young people to do it.

– prh, Editor

I’ll look forward to the Timber-files soon. I loved Audrey Tournay’s beaver tales (Audrey was the founder of the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary where Michelle Grant worked) and I know you did too. In the mean time, two behind the scenes reveals are that the editor PRH is actually Paul Richard Harris who is the husband of Debbie Harris who we helped with beavers in Ontario way back in 2012, (because it’s a very small beaver world and all roads lead to Martinez).

And btw his original editor’s note credited David Suzuki for the documentary and didn’t mention Jari, which I replied to. So this old comment

Timber became one of the stars of two television programs. One, here in Canada, was a David Suzuki produced program called The Beaver Whisperers. The second was produced in the United States by PBS and is called Leave It To Beavers. Go find them: they are both fascinating.

Got magically edited into this one:

One, here in Canada, was a program aired on CBC called The Beaver Whisperers. The second aired in the United States on PBS and is called Leave It To Beavers. Go find them: they are both fascinating. Both documentaries are produced by Jari Osborne.

Which is a kind of reminder that one can make a difference in this topsy turvy beaver world, if you needed one. I myself made a snippet of difference last night on channel 7, but was disappointed my “amazing” interview in the blazing sun was shortened to 15 seconds. Still, its a great plug for the festival anyway, and they snagged tuesday’s footage, gave us credit, got our name right and linked to the right page of the website so I’m very happy.

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KGO) —

The famous beaver family in Martinez is still at it and now officials say they’re actually good for the drought.

Experts say the beaver dams are helping water stay in the creek year round, despite the drought and that’s helping preserve fish and other wildlife.

The group “Worth A Dam” is dedicated to maintaining the beavers in Alhambra Creek.

The president and founder of the group, Heidi Perryman, Ph.D., says, “They’re kind of doing a restoration job for the town of Martinez. They working 24/7. And they’re doing it for free.”

A “Beaver Festival” is planned for this Saturday. It’s taking place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Marina Vista and Alhambra Avenue in Martinez.

‘A’ Beaver festival? A? Not THE beaver festival? I guess we should be proud of the fact that there are now SO many beaver festivals in the world we don’t merit the definite article anymore. Hrmph!

Saving beavers: A Change for the Better.

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and salmon, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? July 25, 2014

Build the Beaver Deceiver

So the folks on the Feather River Land Trust have learned from Brock Dolman that there are many good reasons to live with beaver, and they’re aiming to do just that by raising funds to install a flow device on the Feather River. (They mistakenly call it a beaver deceiver, when the project isn’t intended to protect a culvert, but their efforts are laudable anyway.) I wrote that Worth A Dam would help with a scholarship for materials if they contacted us through the website, so we’ll see what happens.

Ranching and farming is a fundamental part of the Feather River Region–and we are working hard to keep it that way. But sometimes land management practices, like removing beaver dams (and trapping beaver!) don’t jive with current science. Recently, the Feather River Land Trust has found itself in this predicament. A busy beaver on one of our Outdoor Education sites has built a series of dams, creating great habitat and backing up the creek. But our downstream neighbor has some thirsty cattle and a backhoe…

This leads us to our project: help us build a beaver deceiver!

Speaking of beavers with sucessful homes, this is a heart-warming story from the beaver-luvin’ Aspen Wildlife Sanctuary

Westy and Prez – Aspen’s Manitoba beavers

So what do you do when a beaver in Manitoba needs a home? Call Aspen. [Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Ontario]

At least that was the solution for a second time this year when no facility in the prairie province was equipped to house an orphaned beaver kit.

Beaver kits must spend two years being cared for, mimicking the two years they would spend with their parents in the wild, in order to survive when released.

Last year, a lonely kit was found on a Manitoba trail, umbilical cord still attached, and rescued. Eventually, through the generosity of President Air Charter, the kit was shuttled to Ontario and spent the winter at Aspen. Prez remains at Aspen, growing and thriving with another beaver kit, and will overwinter once again before returning to Manitoba for release.

Aspen is fortunate to be among few wildlife rehabilitation centres equipped to care for beaver kits for these two-year periods. Thanks to donors, we have a series of enclosed pools to accommodate a few each year. Of course, there are limits, and a more modern system of pools and pumps would allow staff and volunteers to care for a greater number of these fascinating animals, while spending less time on the daily emptying and refilling of their swimming tanks – a time-consuming task with our current system

Just remember that. It’s TWO years to rehabilitate a kit. Shorter periods are not a favor to anyone. And places that received adorable kits as orphans, and keep them alive for a few fund- raising photo shoots before sticking them in a zoo or abandoning them to their fate are NOT in my good graces.

Just sayin’.

Beaver Countdown

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? July 22, 2014

There are an insane number of last minute details to take care of. It’s truly astonishing how many things we have crossed off the list only to see a mountain of details remaining. I feel like a worm that ate through half an apple. I’ll never get out unless I exercise all that effort all over again.

Apparently even the beavers understand what its like because some stopped off at a store in Idaho to pick up a few things.

Mamma beaver, baby nabbed trying to get inside Eagle WinCo

A mamma beaver and its baby were captured Monday after trying to “shop” inside an Eagle area grocery store. The Ada County Sheriff’s Office says the beaver and its kit tried to repeatedly walk into the WinCo store Monday morning.

The beavers were first spotted at about 6 a.m. when they were shooed away by customers, the sheriff’s office said. A deputy arrived soon after and tried to get the beaver on its way with a plastic rake.

No luck. The beaver and its baby weren’t moving.

Later, however, the Idaho Humane Society arrived and put them in cages. Animals in Distress officials planned to take the beavers up along Highway 21.

“There is some wonderful willow and aspen bark where they are going north of Idaho City,” said Toni Hicks, a longtime volunteer with Animals in Distress.

I’m glad the volunteers will find them a nicer place. Obviously someone is trapping family members down the street and these refugees were seeking asylum. Why else would beavers go to a store? Unless they read that sign that said “Willow Bundle”. Ba-dum-tsss.

Animal Wonders wrote me back yesterday, apologizing for the nutria error and asking permission to thank me with the correction. Another infamous stock footage snafu.They have a long list of projects to get to before they consider a beaver ecology film, but they were definitely interested.

Hello Dr. Perryman,

Jessi Knudsen from Animal Wonders forwarded me your corrections for the beaver video we just put up on SciShow.

Thank you! I made a mistake in trusting the titles of a stock image company we sometimes use, and I greatly appreciate you spotting those mistakes and pointing them out.

I’ve updated our cover photo to a new one of beavers and I’ve annotated that the pictures you pointed out are nutria, and not beavers. With your permission, I’d like to give you credit for spotting these mistakes for us in our video description and point people to your website. Would that be alright with you?

Right now, with our schedule, we can’t rerecord the video to add more information about beavers and their positive effects within their ecosystem, but I’ll gladly tell our head writer that there’s interest in an episode about that. He wrote this episode and has a special place in his heart for beavers so I’m sure he’ll be excited to hear that.

Finally, I wanted to make sure it’s clear Animal Wonders and SciShow are two separate channels. SciShow produced this episode about beavers without input from Jessi or Animal Wonders. Because the two channels have a relationship and try to support each other, SciShow included a shout-out to Animal Wonders because the content was related.

Obviously, we probably should consult Jessi on our animal content because she has actually helped us avoid mistakes like this in the past in episodes she’s been a guest on.

Thank you again, Dr. Perryman. One of my favorite aspects of sharing information on YouTube is that we hear from people when our information is not correct. While we try to make sure that is very rare, when it happens, the best we can hope for is that someone will be considerate enough to tell us.

So thank you,

Caitlin

Caitlin Hofmeister

SciShow Producer

caitlin@thescishow.com

How nice! You can never tell when people will care about the truth (or when they will be indifferent to it) but this is a nice surprise. If I made all the world a little terrified about mislabeling nutria photos as beavers I would die a very happy girl.

In the meantime I plan on dying a very busy girl. The charms arrived yesterday so there are necklaces to create, display flags for the charm booths to make, and info sheets to finish. Then it’s mounting signs, planning tables, and making lists of what we can’t possibly forget to pack for the day.

At times like these I like to remember the old riddle that sustained me through graduate school.

“How far can you walk into a deep forest”

“Only halfway. The other half you’re walking out.”

Ask the Experts

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's Killing Beavers Now? July 9, 2014

Beaver proves to be nuisance neighbour for Bathurst-area man

Hazen McCrea wants the province to deal with beaver dam blocking a culvert for fears of flooding

Beaver dam blocks culvert by Hazen McCrea’s home

A beaver dam is blocking the culvert that drains Hazen McCrea’s property and he’s worried about flooding if the provincial government doesn’t do something to help. (Bridget Yard/CBC)

The structure is starting to interfere with proper drainage of the 81-hectare property and if the beaver continues construction, McCrea worries about where all the water will go.

But he says every time he calls the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, he gets the run around.

Department officials told CBC News the beaver dam is not in the department’s right-of-way and suggested contacting the Department of Natural Resources.

New Brunswick is on the other side of Maine located about 500 miles from the inventor of the beaver deceiver which protects culverts (Skip Lisle in Vermont). I’m not clear why New Brunswick is so totally unprepared for beavers, except that its very near PEI which is NOTORIOUS in dealing with beavers. Maybe all that helplessness and beaver stupid floated in with the tides?

(Indulgent aside: This is one of my first and favorite graphics in the history of my beaver life. I couldn’t find it at first in my files – but no worries. I just googled PEI Beavers and it was the first image that came up.

Hahaha. I must be very popular in the region.)

Lory sent this photo the other day and it deserves our adoring attention. It also reminds us that it’s kit season and well-meaning rehabbers from Calgary to Kentucky are inheriting the orphaned beavers of a trap-happy world. It turns out taking care of kits is a lot more complicated than most people realize. I do all I can to funnel information to our good friend and adviser Cher Button-Dobmeier of the Abbe-freeland Animal Sanctuary. She has rehabbed thousands of beavers and realizes the mistakes folks are most likely to make.

Cheryl and I have been begging her to write something for the rehab section, but she is resistant. “Every kit is different” she says. “And I don’t want people to feel like they are confident in what to do. I want people to ASK and keep asking, so that we can spot the problems before they become un-fixably fatal.”

It’s hard to argue with that.

Cher Button-Dobmeier, Director

Abbe-Freeland Animal Sanctuary, Inc.

8104 Terwilliger Rd.

Angelica, NY 14709

585-808-3231

Bits and pieces

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Festival July 7, 2014

Good job team beaver, the Beaver Believers project is now fully funded, which means we can all look forward to a fantastic beaver-lovin film in the near future. In the mean time I read that the Taipei zoo is celebrating its first beaver kit birth ever, and you can just imagine the rich concrete life this little guy is going to have!

Young beaver

A North American beaver pup, born at Taipei Zoo on June 19, plays in water in this undated photo. It was the first reproduction of the species at the zoo. Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo July 7, 2014

We just finished reading a detailed response from expert beaver rehabber Cher Button-Dobmeier to the Alberta Wildlife Rescue about how kits need to have water they can fully immerse in to drink and urinate – and that if they don’t they will hold it in and get UTI’s which are a one way ticket to worse infections and possible death.

(And I for one, know that to be factually true!)

The map for this year’s festival is done and it took three days to finish with a million changes and details during which I greatly hated everyone in the world including beavers. So if you happen to notice that I spelled your name wrong or you can’t possibly be next to those people, I would think very carefully about drawing it to my attention.