Battle of the beaver: Hamilton backs off plan to kill beavers causing a dam mess in Ancaster

The battle of the beaver has raged for two years in rural Ancaster.

Every year, an industrious rodent blocks a culvert under Mineral Springs Road with gnawed-off trees and mud to stop the flow of water. Inevitably, a city roads crew comes out to clean out the dam mess before the low-lying dirt road floods — only to see the culvert fill up with sticks days or even hours later.

This spring the battle took a deadly turn, with the city hiring a trapper to snare and “humanely” kill the beaver — or maybe a family of beavers? — over concerns the clogged drain is a danger to road safety.

But Castor Canadensis is winning again — this time thanks to outraged neighbours who won the beavers a stay of execution.

HURRAY! Public outcry saving beavers and stopping a city from taking the easy way out! This is my very favorite kind of story. Yours too. Grab a second cup and settle in for a nice fun read. Ancaster is in Ontario at the end of Lake Eerie and New York. Not a huge commute for Mike Or Skip if city leaders decide they wanted to solve this the right way.

Adrian Firth learned about the “beaver-drowning plan” from a trapper setting snares in the pond near her home a week ago. The nurse — who admits she already has enough on her plate in the midst of pandemic chaos — has nonetheless feverishly organized resistance for days.

“I think it is just crazy. Killing these animals is really best solution they could come up with?” asked Firth, who walked around the pond with about a dozen neighbours Friday simultaneously planning a petition while trying to maintain physical distancing.

“I haven’t seen any real road flooding. But if it’s a problem, maybe just build it up and give us a real road,” she suggested, noting the low-lying gravel thoroughfare is typically pockmarked with potholes.

Ahh Adrian! We like you a lot. And you’re a nurse which makes you TWICE as popular. And it is crazy, I agree. Although there’s an easier way to fix it than building another road and its called a beaver deceiver. Maybe I’ll send a note.

Firth noted much of the area green space, including the pond, is on environmentally protected Hamilton Conservation Authority land. “If you’re a beaver, is this not the place to be? And look around — there are beavers all over the frickin’ area. How many of them do you plan to kill, exactly?”

All of them? I mean think about it. When there are ants in your kitchen you don’t just want to discourage one or two. And if your job depends on unplugged culverts, beavers are ants. Right?

“We’ve tried many things to dissuade this beaver,” said roads superintendent Sarah Poole, who listed protective cages and iron-bar catchbasin lids as examples of failed experiments.

“Everything gets destroyed,” she said, adding the culvert is currently stuffed “six solid feet” with sticks. “This beaver is very good at what he does.”

Unlike all the other beavers. Which are such slackers. Too bad Sarah didn’t get one of those.

Trapping and relocating problem wildlife is also possible — but the law forbids moving an animal further than one kilometre. It’s rare, but not unheard of, for the city to kill beavers when roads are threatened, said Poole. “For us, road safety is something we can’t ignore.”

But it turns out angry residents are also hard to ignore.