Palo Alto is riding on the beaver learning curve today. An adult beaver was reported sleeping in a pile of leaves out of the water in Matadero creek on Friday, and brought by an animal control officer to Wildlife Care in Silicon Valley.

Rare Palo Alto beaver getting treatment in Wildlife Center

Female semi-aquatic rodent was found lethargic and hypothermic in a concrete channel of Matadero Creek

A beaver that is recolonizing the Matadero Creek in Palo Alto was taken to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley on Wednesday after being spotted immobile in a pile of leaves, officials said.

Palo Alto Animal Control Supervisor Cody Macartney said a pedestrian found the adult female beaver in a concrete channel of lower Matadero Creek near the former Fry’s Electronics site, and reported it to Palo Alto Animal Control. The animal, who likely made her way to the channel from the wetlands, wasn’t moving and looked as though she didn’t feel well, Macartney said.

Macartney took a photo of the beaver and sent it to the wildlife center, which confirmed that its behavior wasn’t normal.

“She was so unaware of my presence that it wasn’t too hard to capture her,” Macartney said, but he did have a little trouble getting the beaver into a carrier and into his truck –– given that the animal weighed more than 60 pounds. He transported her to the wildlife center, where she was found to be extremely lethargic and hypothermic, Ashley Kinney, the wildlife center’s hospital manager, said.

Kinney said the wildlife center kept the beaver warm in an insulated enclosure and gave her fluids, antibiotics and vitamins.

Heavens! If that beaver was hypothermic from the terrors of sleeping outside the lodge in SAN JOSE IN WINTER I will eat a bug. Beavers walk outside in the tundra and don’t have get hypothermic.  That portion of the creek is all concreted so there’s no way make a bank hole. And from that beavers point of view the officer picked her up in the middle of the night. How responsive are you at 3 am woken from a sleep? Without your glasses?

“As of this morning she is eating and walking around,” Kinney said on Friday, Dec. 1.

Officials don’t know the beaver’s age, but did say she is a large animal, weighing 63 pounds.

“She’s a big girl,” Kinney said, a sign that the semi-aquatic animal is finding an adequate food source.

The wildlife center is currently working on getting a fecal sample from the beaver to check for internal parasites and get a better diagnosis of why she became ill. The beaver’s coat, which is usually oily to help insulate her in the water, was also dry and might be a reason she became hypothermic in the chilly creek and wetlands, Kinney said.

Once she is stabilized, the beaver will be transported to a specialized center in Sonoma where she will continue her rehabilitation until she eventually returns to the channel and wetlands.

What? You say the beaver sleeping outside the water had a dry coat? And you haven’t gotten a stool sample yet but you’ve give her a nice bed of straw to lay down in? You do know she needs water to poop right? And to be stimulated to groom?  I mean I know silicon valley isn’t exactly beaver central but I’m sure you have access to the internet right? I believe your people invented it.

Now I suppose that beaver could have been sick with something not described in the article but I’m not ready to panic over her imminent demise anytime soon. Here in Martinez we’ve seen our share of beaver sickness, but I’m not reading anything that alarms me yet. Maybe Chill out for now? It’s a beaver.

As long as its not crossing the street it will probably be okay.