Last week, directly after writing about the missing beaver dam in Maryland, I was sent a similar article about some residents who were worried about their beavers in Oshawa, Ontario. I read the story with interest but didn’t write about it because it I had just done the Maryland piece and suddenly got overwhelmed with massive bird deliveries from Washington. Yesterday I saw another piece from Oshawa, reminding me the consequences of ignoring beaver news.
Oshawa Beavers Killed: Not Relocated
City officials say they didn’t know until it was too late.
Six beavers that City of Oshawa staff said were “relocated” because their dams were obstructing water flow in Goodman Creak, were actually killed.
City staff did not initially respond to requests for comment but a statement released by the City’s communications department on Oct. 22 said a licensed trapper was working to “relocate” six beavers, because their dams were obstructing the creek, which could lead to flooding in area homes.
“It was only after enquiries were made, that we found out they were not removed alive,” he said. “In retrospect, we should have made more enquiries at the beginning.” When the City hires contractors, such as the trapper used in this situation, Mr. Bertoia said there is the assumption they are trained professionals who are regulated by the relevant laws. For that reason, he said the City didn’t give specific instructions to the trapper, or ask questions about what was being done with the animals.
Yes your honor, I did pay 300,000 to a Mr ‘Knuckles’ who later took out my wife, but I honestly thought he was just going to bring her back to her mothers! I didn’t know he was going to kill her! And when I called all her friends back and said she’d be away for a few months, I wasn’t lying. She really will be!
Residents who live near the creek are outraged.
“Everybody has lied all the way down the line with this nonsense about relocating them,” said Joyce Schnegg, who confronted the trapper when she first spotted him in the creek. “I begged (City staff) to save them, to find a compromise, but no one listened. I feel terrible that I wasn’t able to do more to save them.”
Do you remember that puppy you got from the pound when you were in third grade? The one that chewed your dad’s brief case and ate up all your mom’s daisies in the front yard? You had showed him to all your friends and named him “Patches”? Then you came home from school one day and the puppy didn’t greet you and mom and dad told you it went to live on “the farm”?
Apparently beavers live there too.
First the outrage. The very apt city slogan for Oshawa is “Prepare to be amazed“. And this is truly amazing. It is unfathomable to me that this was allowed to happen and that the city staff was allowed to lie about it for seven days. Yes the properties may have been in real danger, and the city may have had the responsibility to act, but killing six beavers is a prehistoric solution in a modern age. Ten minutes on the internet or the phone would have told you that there are other ways to solve these problems, protect the city interests, promote the communities’ good faith, and preserve the animals well-being. Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions is 8 hours away, for instance. Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International is 7 hours away. A simple flow device installed at the dam could have controlled water height and allowed your beavers to continue to contribute to the environment. Instead you hired trappers in wetsuits to exterminate a family, exposed your city to negative media and alienated the trust of your entire community.
Oshawa Mayor John Gray said City staff did the right thing by being proactive about potential flooding.
“We all love animals, but sometimes beavers in an urban setting just don’t work,” he said. “Would my preference have been relocation? Yes. But a happily ever after isn’t always possible. If the beavers were moved to another location, we could have another municipality facing the same problem.”
The mind reels. The Jaw drops. Is it just me or is it startling to see how enormously similar this crop of civic liars are to our own Bay Area brand? And this is 3000 miles away in another country! And the mayor still speaks the universal language of pants-on-fire.
After the outrage is enormous guilt that I didn’t write about this story earlier after reading this. Probably the beavers wouldn’t be any more alive, but its sad to think that shining greater light on the issue might have helped. The residents of Oshawa should take this whole sorry episode as a reminder that their elected leaders cheerfully take their taxes and just as cheerfully lie to them about what they spend them on. We should all pay attention, and Oshawa, rest assured, you have definitely amazed.
Whoever said that the beavers were relocated should lose their job. Mr. Gray, you should know that if he lies about beavers in the watershed today, he will be lying about pesticides in the playgrounds tomorrow. Can you afford another mistake like this?
If you would like to send Mayor Gray your thoughts, you can reach him here,
The article also quotes Stan Bertoia, the city’s commissioner of community services. Hiring trappers to kill beavers is probably not part of community services, per se, but placating the outraged citizens must be. I don’t envy Mr. Bertoia. If you want to go straight to the-decision making source, you can also write the city manager, Bob Dunigan.
I’m just waiting for the law suit that follows when these residents start missing the bird, otter and fish population.
