Category: Who’s Killing Beavers Now?

Beaver elements: water and fire?

Hopkinton residents blame beavers for flooding woes

HOPKINTON — Several residents of Huckleberry Road are pushing town officials to help find solutions for beaver dams on Whitehall Brook they say are flooding their properties. “The water is less than 40 feet from my house,” Jim Sullivan, of 18 Huckleberry Road, told selectmen last week.

Don MacAdam, conservation administrator, said Thursday several town officials inspected several properties on Huckleberry Road earlier this week to see the flooding. He said he has also seen a beaver dam and evidence of the animals at Pratt Farm, a nearby property on Fruit Street that the town recently bought. Along for the walk were the animal control officer, health administrator and principal planner.

“I’m assuming (the flooding) has to do with beaver dams further down the brook,” MacAdam said.

Sullivan said at Board of Health meeting they also brought up beaver problems. “They agreed there is a situation there,” he said.

Jennifer Belesi, of 24 Huckleberry Road and also a member of the Board of Health, said the problem will take a well-coordinated effort of the residents, town and state. The flood water could threaten wells and septic tanks, which makes it a health problem, she said.

“This is not just one beaver,” she said. “This is an enormous issue.”

Call the WAAmbulance. Between November 2013 and January 2015 this website has reported on no fewer than 7 articles about the DIRE beaverness in Hopkinton, which warranted trapping on every single count. Even though we got them to talk to Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions somewhere along the way, many many beavers were killed. Apparently the problem is still DIRE.

Honestly, even more so than most of beaver-phobic Massachusetts, Hopkinton appears to be on permanent red alert.

More reasons to fear beaver from the Swedes. Actually this might be my very favorite beaver headline ever. Maybe I should be keeping a file.

Did a beaver burn down a Swedish family home?

Police have revealed that a list of usual suspects has been narrowed down to one main culprit believed to be responsible for a fire which gutted a Swedish family home: a beaver.
The house burned to the ground after a blaze in Heby municipality near Uppsala, north of Stockholm, on Monday.

Police launched a probe into suspected arson, but revealed late on Wednesday that a forensic examination of the site had identified a potential suspect, who is yet to be traced.

“Our technicians have reached that conclusion. The beaver left behind forensic evidence which led us to it,” Uppsala police press spokesperson Christer Nordström told public broadcaster SVT.

No one was injured in the blaze, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault after a tree toppled by the four-legged rodent fell on to a power transmission line.

“I heard the evidence was trees that had been gnawed on and such like. I don’t know anything about the forensic team’s beaver expertise, but that’s the information I have received,” said Nordström.

The animal, thought to have his hideout in a nearby river, was understood to still be at large on Thursday.

“The beavers themselves would probably not claim they destroy society functions. But they often fell trees that fall on electricity wires. If I may offer a theory, without having any insight into the case, I think it’s a tree that has fallen and caused sparks,” beaver expert Lars Plahn at the county council’s environmental department told SVT.

I LOVE LARS. Don’t you love Lars? He’s brave enough not to play another round of Blame the Rodent, and we have to respect that. I’m sorry for the fire, but at least when the Swedes write a silly article like this they have the decency to realize they’re being ridiculous.

Which is obviously more than we can say for Hopkinton.

21 beavers shot in Scotland

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 25, 2015

This story is so upsetting. Two days ago I saw a comment on a scottish facebook page saying that farmers were shooting beavers. I wrote Paul Ramsay to find out what I could. He quickly wrote back that there had been several incidents and one farmer in particular bragging that he had “Shot 10”.

They were uncertain whether to go to the papers or not, because they feared a negative story could promote a backlash, resulting in more beavers dying..

Looks like the cats outta the bodybag.

Farmers shooting invading Tayside beavers

But it has now emerged that the bodies of 21 beavers have been discovered with gunshot wounds since the end of 2012.

Farmers and other landowners are suspected of being responsible for the slaughter and have been urged by conservationists

to adopt non-lethal methods to control the species.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has examined the bodies of 23 beavers in the Tayside area and concluded that two died in road accide

nts and the rest were shot dead.

At present, a licence is not needed to shoot beavers as they have no legal protection in the UK. However, possessing and moving a dead beaver is not legal without a licence.

Why on earth should we be surprised at this story? Just because beavers were extinct for 400 years, and scraped their way back from the bistory pile, doesn’t mean a farmer won’t shoot them now. I mean, they happily shoot rabbits, foxes, and badgers. So why wouldn’t they shoot beavers?

The very slanted article is the best answer I could have thought of to Paul’s question. No matter how responsibly you sit on the story and consider your cautions, its going to break soon enough anyway.

Better to make sure you’re in front of it.

Beaver Moon.

Tonight is a full beaver moon. So when you’re looking up in ghostly wibderm think of our Scottish friends.

There’s too much nature in our parks

heidi08 Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Educational, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 10, 2015

How much nature is TOO much? Let the biologists decide.

Maya Shikhman has photographed a Staten Island beaver busy at work, building and nibbling. The large, semi-aquatic mammal has been observed at two locations.

Beavers join the parade of wildlife attracted to Staten Island life

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — They have not been on Staten Island since the 1800s, but a few beavers have taken up residence in the last year or so.

Their population has increased in near-by locations in New Jersey and downstate New York. It’s likely our beaver were ‘disperser’ who left their original area due to competitive pressures from other beaver… similar to why the deer have come to the island,” said Wollney, a doctoral biology candidate at the College of Staten Island.

The growing numbers of the semi-aquatic mammal in New Jersey are leading to the consideration of solutions to manage their numbers.

“The Control Operators Association estimates New Jersey has around 10 million to 15 million beavers, mostly concentrated in the northwest part of the state,” reported the Associated Press in a story in January.

“Busy as a beaver” is an accurate description of an industrious animal or person. “The beaver’s ability to modify its environment is second only to humans,” reads the NY Department of Environmental Conservation website.

And though their industry is irresistible, it is not without consequences, beneficial or not, depending on the environment. Noting that in more wild areas, these “habiat engineers” play an important role by creating pools that become habitat for other species, Wollney observes “on Staten Island, their presence is generally not good.”

“The issue is that we have so few streams that they are all ‘sensitive’ to changes. Simply, we’d lose valuable habitats if the beaver alter it too much. The chewing down of trees just opens up the ground to be invaded by very undesirable non-native, invasive plants and ecosystems to replace what are right now “kind of” natural plant communities,” said Wollney.

Hmmm.Your use of the word ‘disperser’ was encouraging. But I’m concerned about your expectation of beaver population explosion. You do know these guys are territorial, right? I mean I suppose if the island has a million luscious trees and streams they will tolerate more sharing, but mostly beavers are pretty territorial. Which is why that little beaver had to swim so far to find a home in the first place.

I feel fairly certain that Wollney’s Ph.D. isn’t in beavers. Call it a hunch.

Finally, says, Wollney, they have “damned up a Blue Belt stream which is intended to relieve storm-water stress on the roads and sewers. The South Shore beaver(s) pose the same issue.

“One of the streams they are damning drains the Greenbelt and is used by American eels. “Their damn has the potential for blocking young eels from getting up in the water-shed where they mature,” said Wollney.

Well now you’ve gone and done it. You think you’ve heard it all. Every spurious beaver complaint the world can dream up. Blocking culverts, salmon, attacking dogs, causing beaver fever. But THAT is a new one. Blocking EELS. I have to hand it to you Wollney, for originality at least. And for giving me a chance to post my favorite brief poem of all time.

I don’t mind eels
Except as meals.
And the way they feels.

Ogdon Nash

I will try and track folks down and breathe a little beaver council their way, in the meantime our friend Sherry Guzzi of the Sierra Wildlife Coalition sent this my way and I’d knew you’d want to see it. Watch all the way through and look for a beaver surprise in nearly every frame.

Wait, Wait! Don’t Tell Me!

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 4, 2015

Oh look, California has a drought sad. They think concrete dams will make them happy. Good thing they have millions of dollars. Here’s a clip from yesterday’s PBS Newshour.

You know they said the word ‘environmental’ several times in this report, but did they ever say the word FISH? I don’t think so. Or SALMON. I mean obviously the fact that they talked to Dr. Moyle means they know the word and are thinking about it, but I guess they didn’t want to say it aloud?

Imagine what other western states use to save water? I’ll give you a hint. It starts with a “B” And it works for free. And it eats from a tree.

And California kills a bucket load of them.

You know I’ve been in the beaver biz so long that I remember how THRILLED I was when this video came out. Five years ago I thought for SURE this would turn the tide. Hahaha. I was so young and naive.

Thanks BK for sending this and HI PETER MOYLE who often is willing to play name that fish with us! I only wish the News Hour would invest this kind of money in the real solution which California ignores and kills every day.

Now beaver fans everywhere have an important job to do, and that is to turn the head of the master craftsman who made this stunning piece. I wrote him yesterday how beautiful I thought it was and told him I would send him a million beaver friends, asking him to think about donating to the silent auction.

I heard back from him right away. He had a purchase from England immediately after my email. And he’s thinking about it. This morning he is sold out of beavers, but has other beautiful wildlife to choose from. Help him be persuaded?

William Guse, known in the Society for Creative Anachronism as Master Ark of Ringholden, has been making Medieval jewellery for over 35 years. He has spent his whole life as a craftsman. Making things is not just his livelihood, it is his passion.

Missing beavers report

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? November 2, 2015

Devon is worried. They haven’t seen their famously uninvited beavers since September. (Well, neither have we.) Hopefully they’ll be lucky and they’ve just moved downstream or are taking a vacation. But surely there are as many people who want them dead in Devon as there are in Martinez.

Maybe even more?

Man hasn’t seen beavers in Devon for two months

Fears are growing for a family of England’s only wild beavers – which haven’t been spotted for nearly TWO months. Researchers monitoring the group are growing concerned after one of the families went missing – believed to have been scared off by dog walkers.

The 10-strong collection of beavers, discovered by amateur wildlife cameraman Tom Buckley, are the first breeding wild-beavers in Britain since the 17th century. Initially it was feared they would damage the environment around their home, but a license was eventually granted to a research group to monitor their progress. But now the group from the Devon Wildlife Trust are growing concerned after cameraman Tom reported that one of the three families has disappeared.

Tom has been by the beavers side since he first spotted them in February 2014. But he now fears for one family of beavers, after they went missing in September from their burrow close to a public footpath.

I’m sorry for Tom, because worrying about beavers is very hard work. And would be troubled by that odd headline if the first comment hadn’t clarified its purpose, but allow me to say, as a woman who has watched beavers fairly steadily for nearly 9 years, they are harder to see in the winter months. They always area. Even our friends in Napatopia have been complaining lately. This is partly because they have longer hours without daylight and more options – which means they choose not to come out when folks are around. If you check our sightings pages for the past few Novembers and Decembers you will see barely two sightings per month, although of course there are exceptions.

All I’m saying is don’t panic, but keep looking, because beavers are good at surprising you.

Here’s what I worked on yesterday, which seems appropriate for Devon now too. A friend sent me the idea about rabbits and thought it would be better with beavers. (Well, isn’t everything?) I am very proud. Especially of the toes.