- Anita Utas is concerned about the City of Ottawa’s plans to trap beavers in Stittsville’s Paul Lindsay Park. She calls them ‘keystone’ species that help maintain a healthy aquatic habitat. Photograph by: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen
Meet Anita Utas. She’s a prominent artist in Ottawa who finds time to advocate for local wildlife. At the moment she’s watching out for some beavers who are on a very short “to do-in” list for the town.
Stittsville residents and animal-rights activists are fighting to save beavers that have taken up residence in a stormwater pond in Paul Lindsay Park.
They say the city intends to trap and kill the beavers living in the pond near Abbott Street and Shea Road on the grounds that they’re damaging trees and could dam the pond and interfere with drainage, imperilling homes and businesses.
Ahh memories! Did anyone else get a wave of nostalgia? When I read the article I wrote the reporter and the mayor and the council member for that ward and Anita. I suggested some reasonable tools for beaver management and told the story of how Martinez had worried about flooding and taken protective action that solved our problem for the long term. I mentioned that they were committing the tax payers of Ottawa to pay for retrapping beaver every year for the foreseeable future. And gave links to Mike’s DVD and Sherri’s book.
Anita wrote back with this glowing thanks
Thank you so very much for writing to our Mayor and Councillor about this issue. When I first began researching beaver and their positive impact on waterways, I saw on Wikipedia that the residents of Martinez, CA rallied to protect the beaver, and I read about “Worth a Dam.” I am so happy that our story found its way to you. I have been mentioning your city and strategies for living with beaver to everyone I can.
Wow. Now that’s a small world. Thanks to wikipedia Rick who valiantly took on the task of telling beaver tales with the online encyclopedia. And thanks to Anita for doing her homework! I of course wrote back that ‘hmm’ since she was an artist she might be interested in the powerful role we’ve found children’s artwork to play in changing hearts and minds about beavers. I sent along some apt photos. I can only say she was intrigued.
Now, for the record, how far is Ottawa from Martinez?
A mere 2,884 miles.
Update from Anita
Wow, thank you so much for this coverage, 2,884 miles away! We share the same concerns, and I am grateful we have connected.
So far, the beaver have been left alone, but we don’t know if that will last. The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, in Burnaby, British Columbia, has written to our Mayor and City Councillors, offering to come to Ottawa, free of charge, to help our city implement humane, long term solutions to having beaver living with us in our city waterways. I can only hope that the City will accept. I am planning a public information meeting next week, for the residents in Stittsville and all of Ottawa. It is critical that we educate and inform the public about the reactive, inhumane, short term solutions that the City insists on implementing, and how there are well-established, cost-effective and humane technologies that will allow the beaver to live in our city ponds and rivers.
Thank you!
