Cheryl and Jon have pulled a young beaver out of the creek near the lodge this morning, dead. It was taken to the Lindsay museum where they confirmed it was a female, 35 lbs. The body will be sent to UC Davis for examination There are no obvious signs of injury, the area was assessed today by foot and kayak with no other findings. The identification is positive, which means we have two yearlings remaining. The death of the last kit happened four months ago and there is no indication that these losses are related. Remember that a kit mortality rate of 40% is not uncommon. Let’s hope this was natural causes and we find ourselves doing better with our next brood. Beaver expert Sharon Brown of Beavers Wetlands and Wildlife wrote her condolences and a reminder that this is why beaver populations so rarely explode.
